You were the one behind the mask
by Anki-Shai
Summary: Gaara is the new guy at KonohaHigh.In there he had to put up with Sasuke's pranks and his newly discovered crush on Sasuke's best friend Naruto.Things just got complicate after a birthday invitation and a little misunderstanding on Naruto's birthday party Under revision!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **Well, I don't own Naruto, though I wish I did, he is property of Kashimoto that is draving me crazy with the manga. Anyway, the story you are about to read it is mine, but the characters are Kashimoto's ( I think I said the same think in two different ways).

Yaoi Warning!!

**Authors Note:** This is a Yaoi story, if you don't like yaoi or the pairing do not read, and if you read it, please let aside the flames.

Ok this is my first time with a Yaoi story and a Naruto story. The pairing is Gaara and Naruto, and the story line is ...is in high school, I mean I'm not following the cannon in the ninja world. Anyway here is the story, really hope you like it and enjoy it!!

Thanks to InosBane who help me out with the story.

Read, review and enjoy!!

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"Are you going?"

Gaara lifted his eyes from the sketch he was working on to see Shikamaru, the only friend he had made so far at Konoha High. He glanced at the invitation that was sitting atop his notebook and shrugged before returning his attention to his Art assignement.

"So, it is that a yes or a no?" Shikamaru asked.

Gaara remained silent for a moment. Usually, Shikamaru, like himself, never really spoke unless what he had to say was necessary or needed a proper discussion. Gaara knew his friend was waiting for an answer regarding the birthday invitation he'd found earlier on his locker. He picked up a colored pencil and began applying it to his drawing. A sideways glance showed him Shikamaru was watching, his own sketch lay forgotten on the table.

"You know, everyone in our year got one, so it's not like this is another joke by Uchiha and Dogboy."

With an exasperated sigh, Gaara put down his sketch book and turned to face Shikamaru. In the past, if someone bothered him, he would have just punched them until blood poured out of their face and they were begging for mercy. At his old school, noone would have dared to bother him, let alone play stupid jokes on him. But after they'd moved and he'd promised his sister and brother that he would change, he found he was just grateful to have a friend. Gaara allowed the corners of his mouth to turn up slightly, if he remembered correctly, you weren't supposed to punch your friends for asking annoying questions.

"What are you getting at?" The redhead finally gave in.

"Well, just that, since it's Uzumaki's birthday I thought you might be interested in going," the lazy boy shrugged.

A faint blush spread across Gaara's face, "I don't know why the fact that it's Uzumaki's birthday should make a difference to me."

"Of course you don't," Shikamaru smirked earning a nasty glare from Gaara. Still grinning, he turned to look behind them.

Art class, as everyone knew, was the best time to talk due to the noise created by Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke's group. Shikamaru looked over at the table where the blonde and his friends were talking loudly and fooling around.

"I still don't get why you like him," the black haired boy muttered as Gaara turned and saw the blonde boy leaning across the table. Uzumaki Naruto stuck his tongue out of the side of his mouth and smiled happily at his work. The small smile Gaara wore on his own face while watching made concealing his crush impossible.

"Seriously, sometimes he looks like a five year old," Shikamaru smothered a yawn while stretching his arms over his head.

"I don't like him," Gaara said quietly. Shikamaru studied his friend for a moment before grinning.

"No, of course not."

Gaara was about to reply when the Art teacher, Iruka, addressed the class and told them it was time to stop.

"Let's see some of the masterpieces you've done," Iruka continued in his cheery voice.

Lee's hand shot into the air while he bounced up and down like an overexcited puppy. Next to him at the table, Kiba and Ino rolled their eyes.

"Go ahead, Lee," Iruka encouraged.

Lee stood up and showed the rest of the class his drawing of a dragon and a tiger in the middle of a lake.

"This is called 'The Fight of the Heroes'. It's a tiger," he pointed to the tiger. "And a dragon," he pointed to the dragon. "They are not fighting, but are training to become powerful."

"If they're not fighting, why is it called 'The Fight of the Heroes?" Naruto asked confused. Some of the class laughed. Lee looked at his picture then at Naruto.

"Because they are fighting to become better, and to someday be the best of the best at what they do," he replied.

"Thank you Lee, that's a great drawing!" Iruka smiled enthusiastically, "now Naruto, since you seem so eager to talk, why don't you show us your drawing?

Naruto stood up, smiling as he revealed his "masterpiece".

"What is that dobe?" Sasuke asked, an amused looked on his face.

"This is my drawing," Naruto answered.

"You seriously call that a drawing?" Sasuke asked incrediously. Naruto shot him a nasty glare before studying the picture.

It was supposed to be two people, though there were only two big circles and four lines representing their torsos, legs and arms. One of them appeared to be saying "Uzumaki Naruto". Behind the figures, a bright sun was smiling at a small moon. Naruto looked from his picture to a laughing Sasuke.

"What are you laughing at, teme??"

"Come on Naruto, we're in our last year of high school and you still draw like a kindergartener!" Uchiha replied. By then, the rest of the class had joined in the laughter while Naruto pouted.

"Yeah, well, if you think you can do better, let's see your picture!"

Sasuke smirked as he showed Naruto his sketch. Done completely in black pencil, Sasuke had chosen to capture his best friend in one of his finest moments: Naruto, a look of concentration on his face, playing the old violin he had at home. Naruto stared opened mouthed at the drawing.

"You did that?"

Sasuke nodded still smirking at his friend. Naruto gazed at his friend in astonishment before a thought occurred to him and he narrowed his eyes.

"Are you sure Sai didn't draw this?"

Sasuke was about to protest when Iruka interrupted the discussion.

"Sasuke, that was an excellent drawing. Naruto..." Iruka paused and Naruto looked up hopefully. The teacher visibly winced before continuing, "unfortunately, Sasuke is right. Your drawing needs work."

Naruto looked disappointed, while Sasuke laughed softly, "told you dobe."

"Okay," Iruka looked around the classroom. "Gaara, how about yours?"

Silence descended upon the room. Sasuke, Kiba and Ino leaned forward in their seats, identical gleams of mischief in their eyes. The trio used any and every excuse to taunt the new boy, they considered it a special kind of "fun".

Reluctantly, Gaara held up his drawing, showing it only to Iruka. The man smiled before taking the picture and showing it to a dumbfounded class. Gaara had drawn a giant raccoon with a wild expression on it's face. It was done mostly in reds, and in the foreground was the raccoon standing over a village in flames. In the background was the setting sun. There was something unsettlingly realistic about the picture, from the expression on the raccoon's face down to the smallest curl of smoke from the flames.

"Does it have a title?" Iruka asked.

Gaara shrugged, "Shukaku."

"That's really creepy," Ino commented loud enough for Gaara to hear.

"Yeah, I wouldn't like to meet up with that guy in a dark alley, eh Naruto?"

Naruto wasn't paying attention to what his friends were saying, he was too busy staring at the drawing. It was fascinating, and yet there was something very familiar about it.

At that moment the bell rang, and everyone started packing up as Iruka wrote the next day's assignment up on the board. Naruto put his things in his backpack and left the room intent on catching up with Gaara.

"Hey, mmhhmm Gaara, right?"

Gaara turned to see the smiling blond standing mere feet away from him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the faint smirk on Shikamaru's face.

"Yes?" The redhead nodded cursing his fair skin for blushing.

"Yeah, well, uh, can I see your drawing again?" Naruto asked. Gaara couldn't hide his surprise at Naruto's request, but without a second thought, pulled the drawing out of his bag and held it out to Naruto. Once again, Naruto felt a strange connection to the picture. It touched something deep insde of him.

"Wow, this is really great, even better than Sasuke's!" Gaara searched Naruto's eyes for some trace of taunt or lie but found none. Instead, he saw that Naruto's interest in the drawing was genuine. Behind him, Shikamaru gave a slight poke in the shoulder and made Gaara shift uncomfortably.

"If you like it you can keep it," Gaara offered softly.

"Why would he keep something like that?" Sasuke asked appearing behind Naruto, a look of disdain on his face. Naruto jumped with surprise and turned to face Sasuke accusingly.

"You idiot, I hate when you do that, it creeps me out!" The blonde exclaimed while Sasuke continued smirking. Naruto turned his attention back to Gaara who was glaring daggers at the Uchiha, "you mean it? I can really keep it?"

"Why would you want that other than to make sure you have nightmares," Kiba cut in. "Remember when we all saw 'The Ring'?"

Kiba's comment confused Naruto.

"What does that have to do with this?" The blonde pondered, scratching the back of his head.

"If you couldn't sleep for over a week after seeing a dead girl crawl out of a well, how do you think you'll sleep with that picture in your room?" Kiba asked

"Yeah, what if it comes out at night to eat you?" Sasuke asked chuckling.

"I wasn't scared of that movie! I was scared because after we saw it you idiots called me up with that creepy voice saying 'seven days...'!"

The group laughed at the memory, all but Gaara and Shikamaru who were feeling more than a little uncomfortable. When they finally stopped laughting, the Uchiha took the drawing from Naruto and handed it back to Gaara.

"Here, Naruto doesn't need that scaring him at night." Sasuke's voice was low and cold. Behind him Naruto was distracted arguing with Kiba that he wasn't a scaredy cat. Gaara took the drawing and continued down the hall, angry with himself for falling into that little trick. Shikamaru glared at the Uchiha before following.

"You okay?" Shikamaru asked when he was sure noone was listening.

"Yes, why shouldn't I be?" Gaara asked evenly.

"Maybe because the Uchiha was being an ass like always?"

"So he was, let's forget about it okay?" A trace of warning in the redhead's voice.

Shikamaru nodded and followed his friend out of the school.

After a while, Gaara smirked and turned to Shikamaru, "wanna come over for dinner? Temari's cooking tonight and it would be good if she had some incentive to cook a decent meal."

The dark haired boy merely nodded hating the fact that the redhead had made him blush.

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Don't forget to read and review the story. Tell me if you like it!!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **Once again, I don't own Naruto. He belongs to Gaara and Kashimoto.

**Author's Note: **

**1. **This is a Yaoi stori, if you don't like don't flame me and simply don't read it.

**2.**The pairing is Gaara and Naruto, and the story line is ...is in high school, I mean I'm not following the cannon in the ninja world.

**3. **I wanna thank **DMHPluv, AngelFoxtail, IEatChiken** and of course my dear beta and **InosBane **for the reviews. Thanks for the comments and giving me the reason to keep posting. Hope you enjoy and like this other chapter.

**4. Read and do not forget to Review!!**

* * *

Chapter 2

Naruto was mumbling furiously as he walked through the empty halls of Konoha High. His alarm clock had gone off too early, and instead of letting him go back to sleep, (the clock was obviously broken, _he_ certainly wouldn't have set it to go off at five in the morning on purpose!) Jiraiya had sent him on to school stating that being early wasn't a bad thing. Jerking open the door to his first class, Naruto stomped in to what he assumed would be an empty classroom. When he saw Gaara and a sleeping Shikamaru sitting at the back of the classroom, his eyes lit up and his sour expression changed to a smile.

"Oi, hi Gaara! What are you doing here? Did your alarm go off early too?" The blonde asked bounding over to a surprised looking redhead.

"Good morning Naruto-kun." Gaara nodded, mentally chiding himself for having such a stiff, formal manner. If only Shikamaru would wake up, then maybe he wouldn't feel so awkward.

Naruto plopped into the seat right in front of Gaara, "You know, you still have something that's mine," he grinned.

Gaara raised his non-existent eyebrows, "I don't have anything that belongs to you."

Naruto frowned and stuck out his bottom lip, pouting. Gaara couln't help but focus on that lip...his face grew warm and he knew he was blushing like mad. He hoped Naruto wouldn't notice that his face suddenly resembled a beet.

"Yes you do," the blonde insisted. "You said that if I really liked it I could have it."

Comprehension took the place of his blush as Gaara remembered the drawing from Art class. A little surprised, he eyed Naruto searching once again for a trick, but just as before, found none. Cerulean eyes locked with his own pale green ones, and Gaara lost himself in those blue orbs that were always shining with happiness and life. He could remember the first time Naruto had talked to him, though he didn't expect the blonde to remember that, he didn't even learn his name until later on.

"Well, are you going to give me my drawing or not? Don't tell me you changed your mind, I'll be forced to pester you all day until you change it back!"

"Wait, why would you want it? I thought your friends said it would scare you."

Naruto's eyes widened with indignation, "Uzumaki Naruto isn't afraid of anything!"

The sincerity of the outburst caused Gaaa to smile slightly, unbeknownst to the two, their classmates were beginning to file into the room.

"Seriously, I don't get scared …it's just that Sasuke Teme and Kiba like to ….play games with me after we watch a horror movie."

"So, you do get scared," Gaara smirked.

"No! Hey…wait a minute," Naruto cocked an eyebrow, "you're just trying to change the subject. What about my drawing?"

"Why do you want it?"

It wasn Naruto's turn to wonder if Gaara was teasing him. The blonde sighed and became serious, "You see…I had this friend when I was a kid. His name was Haku."

"Was?" Asked Gaara and Naruto nodded sadly.

"Yeah, he died. We lived on the same street. He was always smiling, and could cheer me up whenever I was sad. One day he made a drawing for me, it was a really big fox with a sun a moon behind it. The fox had nine tails." .

"Nine tails?" Gaara leaned slightly forward, "why nine tails?"

"According to Haku, each of the tails represented something different about what I meant to him." Naruto counted off on his fingers, "friendship, strength, humor, hope, family, mischief. Let's see…" he paused, "I think he said that I was like a teddy bear that he could hug when it was raining outside…yeah. Mmmhmm something about a thief," Naruto looked nervously at Gaara, "but that's only because I used to steal candies for us…and, oh yeah, love." All traces of sadness had melted away and were replaced by a brilliant smile. "So when I saw your drawing, I couldn't help but think of the one Haku did. Can I still have it?" Naruto asked quietly, a note of pleading in his voice

How could Gaara said no after this boy shared such an important part of his life with him.

"You can have it, but it won't be until tomorrow. I didn't bring it today."

"Oh, well that's no problem," the blonde's grin grew bigger. "I'll just come by your place after school and pick it up." Seeing the look of apprehension on Gaara's face, Naruto backtracked. "That's only if you don't mind."

"Mind? Ofcourse he doesn't mind! I'm sure Gaara here would love to have you over." Shikamaru's voice startled the two boys who turned to see the smirk on his face. Gaara couldn't believe his "friend" would say such a thing in front of Naruto, and with that damn smile on his face? Gaara shot him a death glare that had no affect other than to make Shikamaru yawn. The redhead's shoulders slumped, if his infamous death glare got no results...he must really be losing his touch. In front of him, Naruto beamed.

"Then it's settled, I'll meet you after school and walk over to your place."

"Whose place?" said the deep voice of Uchiha Sasuke, looking curiously at his best friend. Naruto merely shrugged.

"Gaara has something for me," said the blonde. Sasuke frowned coldly at Gaara who couldn't help but smile triumphantly in return.

"Really? And what is that?" asked the Uchiha, his eyes not straying from Gaara's face.

Naruto leaned over and whispered, "it's a secret Sasuke- teme!"

Sasuke opened his mouth to reply when the teacher entered the classroom.

"Ok everyone to your seats. That means you too, Sakura. You and Ino can continue to gossip on your own time," Ms. Anko called, an amused gleam in her eyes. The girls blushed slightly as Sakura slid into her seat beside Naruto.

"Hey Sakura," Naruto smiled. "How was your night?"

"Good thanks," the girl smiled. "So I heard from Sai that a bunch of you were planning your birthday party?"

"Oh, yeah we were…"

"Excuse me Miss Haruno, I understand that your social plans are much more important than Trigonometry. But when I told you and Ino to stop talking, I didn't mean for you to start talking to Naruto!" The normally smiling teacher's voice had risen and an angry vein could be seen throbbing in her forehead. Naruto and Sakura shot worried glances at eachother and remained silent for the rest of the class.

In the last row of seats, Gaara was ignoring Shikamaru's attempts to discuss the conversation between the redhead and Naruto.

"Come on Gaara, I heard the whole thing." When Gaara turned his glare on Shikamaru this time, the dark haired boy did indeed cower.

"You were spying on me," he hissed.

" It's not really spying, I was just...pretending to be asleep so that you would be able to talk without anyone listening in."

Gaara rolled his eyes before they fell on the smirking faces of Sasuke and Kiba. The pair was looking his way, when Kiba nudged Sasuke who nodded. Deciding there was nothing he could do about them right now, Gaara turned his attention back to the lesson.

The cafeteria was in it's usual turmoil. Students were gathered in small groups at tables or standing in line waiting to be served by Bertha, the grumpy lunch lady. Conversations were punctuated by occasional laughter when suddenly, the sound of an explosion caused many to stop talking altogether. Students looked around trying to find the source of the noise. When a loud laugh echoed through the room, noone was left in any doubt, Uzumaki Naruto had pulled a prank. From the looks of things, his friend, Sasuke had once again been the target. The Uchiha was holding a half empty bottle of soda, the rest of it was dripping from his hair, his face, and had soaked his shirt..

"What the hell? Uzumaki you are sooooo dead!" Sasuke exclaimed.

Kiba, Ino, Tenten, Lee and Sakura joined Naruto in laughing. Scowling, Sasuke tried to clean himself up. Seated beside him was an impassive Shino, and a smirking Neji. Sai, who was next to Tenten merely looked confused.

"I just don't get it," the artist shook his head. "Why is that funny?"

The whole table started laughing as Naruto tried to explain, "Because…this is like…the third time…this week…he fell for the same trick..." he said gasping for air. "Oh, teme…" he chuckled, "you should see your face."

"Just wait dobe…" said Sasuke in such a menacing tone that Naruto stopped laughing and actually gulped. "I **will** get you for this."

"C'mon now Sasuke, it was a little joke. You play them on me all the time," Naruto hesitated. The look in Sasuke's eyes worried him a bit.

Sasuke smirk did nothing to make Naruto's uneasiness go away. Attempting to diffuse the situation, Naruto grabbed a few napkins and started helping Sasuke clean up. The Uchiha continued smirking, obviously enjoying the newer, humble Naruto.

"Oh, I get it….so, Sasuke-kun was too dumb to realize that Naruto–kun had played the same trick on him that he 's played before!" Sai exclaimed loudly, pleased that he'd finally figured it out. Sasuke turned to find Sai grinning with pride while Naruto stifled a laugh.

"Well, as fun as this has been…I think we should get going now," Kiba said casually looking around, before turning his gaze to Sasuke who nodded. Noticing the look that passed between the two, Shino lifted an eyebrow but said nothing..

"Now?" Ino asked looking at her watch, "but it's still early." It was one o'clock, and even though they got out early that day, it was still way too early to leave the cafeteria.

Sasuke and Kiba stood up to leave. Neji and Shino looked at eachother, identical frowns on their faces. Typically, it was Naruto who held the title of prankster, and because he had such puppy dog eyes, he almost always got away with it. Plus, his pranks were usually harmless. But Kiba and Sasuke were another story...whenever they instigated a prank it usually meant trouble, and lately, that trouble was focused on one particular person.

"Hey, where are we going?" Naruto asked, following Sasuke. The Uchiha put and arm around his friend's shoulders.

"Tell me dobe, how long have we known eachother?"

"Mmmmh…well…A long time" said Naruto. Behind them, Ino rolled her eyes and Sakura punched the blonde boy on his shoulder.

"Hey! What kind of best friend are you?" Naruto asked rubbing his shoulder where Sakura punched him. Then turning back to Sasuke, said "I guess it's been what, like eight years?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "yeah, about that long. Anyway, remember that time Itachi told us about the prank he, Kisame and Deidara played on that guy….Tobi?"

Naruto hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. When the group rounded the corner and he saw Gaara, Choji and Shikamaru making their way to their lockers, he stopped. Eyes wide with surprise, Naruto suddenly remembered what prank Itachi had played.

"Sasuke, what the hell are you going to do?"

"Just watch dobe."

Since he'd arrived at Konoha High, Sabaku no Gaara had been the favorite target of Sasuke and his group. Many of them had heard the stories behind his transfer: the bad ass reputation, and how dangerous he could be-having killed two people at his former school (or so the rumors said). But when the Uchiha and the others met him they just couldn't believe that the skinny redhead who wore black eyeliner and had a tattoo of the 'ai' kanji on his forehead was all that dangerous. They had decided to play a joke on him his very first day, and after receiving no response, the pranks continued while Gaara just kept ignoring them.

The redhead spied the group of friends with narrowed eyes. Following his gaze, Shikamaru poked him and told him to just ignore them, Gaara was happy to comply, and went to open his locker. He felt someone punch him aside, though not fast enough. The moment Gaara opened his locker a can of yellow paint hit his left arm, when he turned to see who had 'saved' him, he saw that Uzumaki Naruto was covered in the paint. Gaara cursed under his breath.

Sasuke looked from Naruto to Gaara frowning, "what the hell?" He yelled running towards Naruto with Kiba and the others close behind.

Gaara was staring at the floor. Enough was enough, rage was coursing through his body, and he could feel his old self resurfacing, That was the moment Kiba unwisely decided to open his mouth and comment about the new combination of colors in Gaara's jacket. Unable and unwilling to stop himself, Gaara grabbed Kiba around the neck and shoved him into the lockers.

The hall went completely silent. Kiba squirmed in pain, Naruto and Sasuke stood with their mouths open, while Shino, Neji and Lee stood by not sure what to expect.

Gaara locked eyes with Kiba, the boy gulped as he stared back into the cold depths of the pale green eyes.

"You think that was fucking funny, eh? What about this?" Gaara hissed tightening his grip on Kiba's neck. "Tell me, is this funny?"

"Hey, you'd better let Kiba go unless you really want some trouble," Sasuke said ready to jump Gaara at any moment. Gaara turned to face his tormentor, a maniacal grin on his face."

"Trouble? You call this trouble? I call this putting an end to the problem you seem to have with me," he replied in a cold voice.

"Let him go. I'm not afraid of a freak like you," Sasuke ordered. The tension increased as the two glared daggers at eachother. With Gaara distracted, Kiba was able to kick him in the side. Gaara yelped with surprise but managed to punch Kiba in the stomach before the dark haired boy ran off. Sasuke ran forward, but Naruto intervened. The Uchiha was shocked by the look on his best friend's face, Naruto looked deadly serious and ready to punch whoever came a step closer. He turned around facing Gaara.

"I understand that you're really pissed off. You have every right to be. But…if you ever try to hurt one my friends like that again, you will wish you never crossed paths with me." Gaara stood there, indecision written all over his face. Should he fight? Should he go? The look Naruto was giving him, made something deep inside of his chest rip to pieces. Silently, he nodded and walked away from the scene, not even pausing to look at Shikamaru or Choji. He knew they must hate him for this.

Sasuke was about to say something when Naruto lifted his hand for silence.

"I don't know what your problem is with Gaara, but this has gone way too far."

"Too far? Did you see what that maniac did to Kiba?"

"Of course I saw it, but don't you think he had every right to be angry?"

"So, you're saying that Kiba got what he deserved?"

"Of course not, but Gaara didn't deserve what you guys did. Look at all his stuff!"

Sasuke stood trembling with fury, "you know what?" He smirked, "you're awfully protective of him...do you like him?" Naruto stared at Sasuke as though he'd never seen him before. The Uchiha continued. "From where I'm standing it looks like you're really in to him. Like you want to start something up with him."

Naruto's mouth hung open. Ino and Sakura were both suffering nosebleeds.

"What? What…I…what?"

"Come on, we all know you like girls..._and_ boys. Why else would you side with him over your friends?" The Uchiha accused..

"Are you out of your bloody mind? Didn't you hear a word I said? You. Went. Too. Far. Besides, even if I _did_ like him, what does it matter to you?"

Sasuke had no answer to that, at least not one he was ready to say out loud. The sound of footsteps caused the boys to look away from eachother. One of the teachers, Hatake Kakashi had come to see what the problem was. He took in the locker covered with yellow paint, Kiba lying on the floor and the two red-faced boys.

"Ok, what's going on here," he sighed looking from Choji and Shikamaru to Ino and Sakura. Sai smiled, while Shino and Kiba avoided his gaze. Naruto stared determinedly at the ground. His eyes passed over Sasuke and Lee before landing on...Neji. Sasuke rolled his eyes, they were doomed. It was well known that the only one among them who couldn't even tell the whitest of lies was Neji. When they were younger, it had been quite the problem since every time they pulled a prank, all the adults had to do was ask Neji who was behind it. The boy could not lie.

Neji sighed when Kakashi gave him a curt nod.

"We were…It was a prank that got out of control," he mumbled.

"Very well, who was behind this prank?"

Neji hesitated for a moment, before Naruto raised his hand.

"It was me, Kakashi sensei."

"That's not true. Kiba and I were the ones who planned all of this." Sasuke said, not looking at Naruto.

"Okay," Kakashi nodded. " Sasuke, you and Kiba will stay here and clean up. The rest of you can go. Now."

Gaara arrived home angry and frustrated. He crossed the livingroom and headed directly to his room ignoring the greeting from his sister, Temari. When he passed his younger brother in the hall, Kankuro raised an eyebow in question. Gaara made no response, and upon entering his room, turned on his stereo full blast before hitting the wall with rage.

It was past five o'clock when a knock on his bedroom door pulled him out of the trance he was in while sitting at his desk drawing.

"What?"

"Gaara, there's someone at the door….he said he wants to talk to you," Temari called trying to be heard over the music. Gaara clicked off the stereo confused. Shikamaru and Chouji didn't have to come by just to tell him they didn't want to hang around with him any longer. With a resigned sigh, Gaara stepped into the hall where Temari stood frowning.

"You okay?" She asked concerned. Gaara shrugged as he walked past her to the front door.

When he saw who was standing there he couldn't help but gape with surprise. On the doorstep was none other than Uzumaki Naruto.

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So, do you like it? Really?? Then, review!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **Once again, I don't own Naruto. He belongs to Gaara and Kashimoto.

**Author's Note: **

**1. **This is a Yaoi stori, if you don't like don't flame me and simply don't read it.

**2.**The pairing is Gaara and Naruto, and the story line is ...is in high school, I mean I'm not following the cannon in the ninja world.

**3. **Thanks to all of you that had reviewed my story. I really appreciate it. I also want to thank to my beta **InosBane**

for making of this is story something easy to read. Thanks!!

**4. Read and do not forget to Review!! And enjoy!!**

* * *

After Gaara took off and Kakashi and the others left, Naruto remained behind to help his friends clean up the mess. Kiba did all the talking while Sasuke seethed, grunting occasionally and Naruto lost himself in thought. The confrontation had left him rattled, not so much by what had happened, but by the way Sasuke had looked when he dropped his bomb.

Thanks to his old crush on Itachi, Sasuke's brother, it was common knowledge that Naruto liked men just as much as women. But Sasuke knew good and well that the only person who currently occupied his thoughts was Haruno Sakura. His birthday party was just around the corner, and he was counting on it to be the perfect place to confess his love to Sakura, but after seeing her face when Sasuke had made the crack about Gaara...what if she flat out rejected him? What if she suggested a threesome? Hmmm...that wasn't such a bad idea...wait, what! NO! What was he thinking? Naruto cursed his best friend mentally for having said such things. He definitely didn't want Sakura thinking that he liked Gaara in _that _way, which of course, he didn't.

Gathering up the items of Gaara's that were salvageable, Naruto left the school without saying goodbye. He didn't notice the hurt look on the Uchiha's face as he walked out the front doors and into the afternoon sunlight. He caught up with Shikamaru and asked him where Gaara lived. Shikamaru took in the paint splattered items and smiled. Naruto started to explain that he wanted to apologize and return Gaara's things, but Shikamaru waved a lazy hand.

"You also want that picture huh?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly, "yeah."

Shikamaru nodded and wrote down directions from memory on a piece of paper.

"You might want to take a peace offering," he called smirking at the blonde's back.

This is why Naruto smiled and held out a bag of oreos once Gaara came to the door.

"Hey, ummmm...peace offering?" When Gaara made no response, Naruto sighed. "Look, I'm really sorry about what happened, and I wanted to make sure you got your things. A few papers were beyond repair, but most of your books and folders are okay." He smiled weakly, "there's only a few traces of paint on your Physics book."

Gaara closed his eyes, this whole situation was unreal, "but that doesn't really explain what the hell you're doing here. Does it? You didn't have to bring them here yourself, did you?" Gaara hadn't meant for that to come out as harshly as it sounded, but after everything, Naruto standing there on his doorstep holding a bag of oreos was a bit much to take in.

"I know you must be really angry about what happen today. Sasuke and Kiba went way too far, that wasn't a friendly prank. I just wanted to apologize for what they did," Naruto said, his blue eyes gleaming, "but I also think that your reaction was a bit…well…"

"I know," Gaara answered simply.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, as Gaara avoided meeting Naruto's eyes and instead turned to look out on the neighbor's garden. His eyes widened when he recognized the grinning faces of Shikamaru and Chouji peering out at him from a lavender bush. Gaara blinked several times to make sure he was seeing correctly when Shikamaru started waving at him signaling that he should take Naruto into the house. Gaara couldn't help but smile, apparently Shikamaru was still his friend even after his outburst. He turned his gaze back to the blonde and was about to invite him in when a loud bang followed by laughter was heard coming from the second floor of the house. Gaara rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Naruto who was staring curiously into the doorway.

"What was that?"

"My brother and his stupid friends," as if on cue, a man with brown hair and an irritated look on his face appeared at the door. Seeing the two standing there, he smirked slightly before nodding.

"Gaara, Gaara's boyfriend," before disappearing down a hallway. Gaara glared red-faced at his brother's back while Naruto scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously.

"So, I take it that was your brother?"

Gaara closed his eyes and nodded, "Do you still want the drawing?"

Naruto blinked at the sudden change in topic before a goofy smile appeared on his face.

"Yeah, sure!"

"Okay then, come in."

Naruto stared curiously around at the mismatched, overstuffed furniture. It looked comfortable and homey, a far cry from his uncle's bachelor pad, or even Sasuke's mother's floral chintz. He followed as Gaara made a right, went up a staircase and then down a fairly long hallway. A door was slightly ajar, and he couldn't help but take a peek inside. His surprised gasp made Gaara turn around.

"Wow, is this your sister's room? "

Gaara frowned before a slow smirk made it's way across his face, "why?"

Naruto turned a bewildered face to the redhead, "Those dolls she has on the shelf are really great!"

A laugh was heard from inside the room and Gaara joined in. Temari came out of her actual room a little exasperated from cleaning, and Kankuro had just arrived holding two cans of soda. The older sibling's jaws dropped and they gaped at eachother. They were witnessing a miracle! Their brother was laughing! It wasn't loud guffaws, just soft snickers, but it was real, and there was little to no malice involved. Naruto looked from Gaara snickering to Temari and Kankuro who were imitating goldfish, while the unseen voice laughed on. He was thoroughly confused.

"Gaara, what happened? What's so funny?" Naruto asked as Gaara shot an amused look at Kankuro.

"Can you repeat what you just said about that room," Gaara smiled.

Naruto was really lost, he didn't have any idea what he said that was so funny, but he looked over at Temari anyways and shrugged.

"Well, I just said to Gaara that I thought your room was really incredible…especially those dolls you have on the shelf."

Once again, his comment was met with laughter, and this time Temari joined in. Kankuro however, snorted angrily, before entering **his** room. Naruto winced, glad he wasn't a can of soda.

"This is **my** room," a deep voice called. "And they are** NOT **dolls…they are puppets!" The house shook slightly from the force of the slammed door.

"Yeah, sure you keep telling yourself that," the voice within the room taunted..

"Shut up Deidara, you're the one that looks like a girl!!"

"So the _puppets_ are the reason you use make up sometimes? Ouch!"

Kankuro must have thrown the soda at his friend. The two began squabbling, and soon their raised voices were indecipherable.

Temari was still laughing at Naruto's comment, while the blonde blushed. What a horrible mistake, but how was he to know that room belonged to Gaara's brother? What guy had dolls organized like that in their room? It was a genuine mistake. He turned around and saw Gaara and Temari watching him.

"I uh… I'm sorry?"

"Don't be, it was about time someone told him the truth." Temari smiled making Naruto feel much better. "Are you staying for dinner? I'm going to order some pizza in a little while."

"Oh, I would love to…but I can't. Thanks anyway," Naruto said gratefully.

The disappointment in her brother's eyes was not lost on Temari who addressed Naruto while ruffling Gaara's hair, much to the redhead's annoyance.

"That's to bad, it's not everyday Gaara brings his friends home. Maybe some other time."

"Yeah, I'd like that."

"Alright, well, carry on. But be nice and don't break anything," she said as a crach was heard coming from Kankuro's room, followed by a "damnit!" Temari rolled her eyes before heading to the kitchen.

Naruto followed Gaara to the door at the end of the hall. When the light was flipped on, Uzumaki stared around in astonishment. The room was painted a blue so dark it was almost black, with white dots on the ceiling and a half moon behind Gaara's bed. The three other walls had meteors and stardust painted on them, and there was a telescope at the window. Naruto walked over to the desk where Gaara was rummaging through some sketch books next to his computer. His eyes lit up when he saw the party invitation.

"Hey, you got one!"

Gaara looked over at what Naruto was holding, "yeah, someone put it on my locker," he shrugged.

"Sai and Lee were helping me pass them out to everyone in our year, you know since this is Senior year and all. And since it's October I thought it would be fun to make it a costume party." Naruto cocked an eyebrow playfully, "you **are** coming right?"

Gaara looked at Naruto as if he didn't believe him. So Shikamaru was right, it wasn't a joke and to top it off, Naruto was expecting him to go! He looked down at the drawing in his hand and held it out to Naruto.

"I can't," he muttered not meeting the blue eyes. "I have…well, my brother and sister and I are going to be busy that night." He didn't have to see Naruto's disappointment, he could feel it.

"Oh, that sucks, but you'll still get me a gift right?"

Gaara blinked at the gall of the question before muttering, "yeah, I guess…since you invited me."

"Great!" Naruto grinned slyly, "then my gift will be you coming to my party! Come on," he begged, "you **have** to be there, it's going to be awesome! My uncle's going to be out of town, and Sasuke and Itachi, that's Sasuke's brother, are helping me with the music and stuff. Itachi's bringing some of his friends-they're all mad-like seriously nuts!! But they're fun and…"

Gaara had never met someone who could talk so much without taking a breath. One subject seemed to lead to another, and Gaara was just wondering if he should get the blonde a glass of water when a voice from the window interrupted the monologue.

"Wow," a voice drawled. "You talk even more than my mom...I'm impressed!" The pair looked over at the window to see a smug faced Shikamaru perched on the ledge.

"How'd you get there?" Naruto asked.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes as he climbed into the room, "tree," he said pointing to the juniper outside the window. He shot Gaara a mischevious grin as he laid down on the bed.

"He always does that," Gaara said.

"And it doesn't bother you?" Naruto asked leaning out the window and touching the tree.

"Not really, I'm used to him pestering me all the time."

Shikamaru saw the look of insecurity in his friend's eyes, he smiled gently.

"Good to know that I mean that much to you."

"Well, I think it's kinda creepy," Naruto muttered. "Anyway," he said turning from the window, "thanks for the drawing Gaara, really I appreciate it. Enjoy the cookies, I'll see you guys Monday."

"I'll walk you out," Gaara offered. Naruto nodded and the two left the room, Shikamaru smirking after them..

After a few minutes, Gaara returned to find Shikamaru looking through the telescope.

"So, I take it things went well with your...new…err, friend?" Shikamaru grinned. But when he saw the expression on Gaara's face he became concerned, "hey, are you okay?"

"You're still talking to me."

Well Shikamaru certainly wasn't expecting **that**. "Of course I am, why wouldn't I be talking to you?"

"Because of what happened today, the way I lost control." Gaara sighed sitting on the bed.

Shikamaru shrugged and walked over to turn the stereo on. He winced at the volume before turning it down and finding some classical music.

"They deserved it. They've been screwing with you since you're first day. But you," He grinned pointing at Gaara, "you were holding out on me, you never mentioned that you knew how to fight. Still," he said sitting down next to Gaara, "wasn't it interesting how Uzumaki came to your rescue?"

"I have to go to the party." Gaara sighed, "he tricked me."

Shikamaru chuckled, "yeah, I know. I was listening in."

"You have a habit of doing that when I'm talking to Naruto don't you? But where's Chouji? Don't tell me he climbed the tree too?"

"It's dinner time, he went home."

They were both laying back on the bed staring at the ceiling when Temari walked in. When he saw who it was, Shikamaru stood up so fast that he almost knocked Gaara off the bed. Blushing under Temari's gaze, he stuffed his hands in his pockets trying to look nonchalant.

"Ah, hello Shikamaru, nice to see you. How have you been?"

"Since yesterday? Quite fine, thanks for asking."

"I see you still choose to enter our home through my brother's window. That's really quite romantic," Temari's voice was dripping with sarcasm. Shikamaru leaned against the closest wall as Gaara sat watching the delicate game of flirtation the two engaged in every time they met.

"I…yes…I didn't want to disturb anyone this late."

"That was really thoughtful because we all know how dreadfully late six o'clock is."

"Six? Wow, time really does fly," Shikamaru paused looking down at his watch. Gaara laid back down and rolled his eyes. "So," he continued, "to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you again?"

"Oh, well, you know, I kinda live here." Temari replied, "I was ordering pizza and…"

"Temari what the hell are you doing? The guy from the pizza place is getting tired of waiting for our order!" Kankuro screamed from the first floor. Temari's eyes narrowed dangerously, and Gaara was very happy that his name wasn't Kankuro.

"Anyway, Gaara do you want some pizza?" Gaara nodded, and Temari directed her attention back to Shikamaru. "Do you want to stay for dinner? We should have plenty since Gaara's boyfriend couldn't stay."

"He is **not** my boyfriend…"

Shikamaru and Temari shared a look of disbelief before Shikamaru nodded, "I'll stay."

"Good, then I'll get the same as always?" Gaara nodded once again and with a last glance towards Shikamaru, Temari left.

Gaara sat up and raised an eyebrow at Shikamaru who shrugged.

"So, pizza eh?"

"Yeah, pizza." A few moments of silence passed as Shikamaru stared resolutely at a spot on the floor.

"Uzumaki's party is a costume party," Gaara stated.

Shikamaru nodded.

"Are you coming with me?"

"Of course," Shikamaru lifted his head giving Gaara a look that said he must be crazy. "Do you honestly think I'd let you wander alone into that pack of wolves?"

Gaara smiled softly, he was glad he had a friend like Shikamaru. "So, I don't know what to wear, I've never worn a costume before."

"What do you mean you've never worn a costume? What about when you were little, didn't you ever go trick-or-treating?"

Gaara shrugged. That part of his childhood had been denied him, he'd never known what it was like to interact with other children or to have friends until recently, until Shikamaru.

"Well," the dark haired boy grinned scratching the back of his head, "I guess we could go to the mall tomorrow, I know a good place to find costumes."

"Thanks." Gaara grinned back relieved. He didn't know anything about costumes other than he didn't want to look stupid. "So," he hesitated for a minute, "are you inviting my sister?"

Shikamaru's face was as red as a beet before he nodded, "you don't mind do you?"

Gaara smirked and turned off the stereo grabbing the remote and turning on the TV instead. "Want to watch a movie?"

"Sure," Shikamaru replied sitting back down on the bed.

o-o-o-o-o

Sasuke was standing on Naruto's porch holding a bowl of Miso Ramen. He knew that the moment his friend saw what he was holding, the blonde would forgive him and everything would be back to normal. Naruto opened the door, and just as he predicted, took the Ramen from him, giving him that breathtaking smile. Sasuke felt his heart flip flop inside his chest and smiled back. It was Saturday morning, and he wasn't about to let the fight with that Gaara freak ruin his weekend.

"So…you forgive me?" he asked sitting on the couch. Naruto, whose mouth was too full to answer, nodded vigorously.

"Good. So I was thinking about what we could do today and narrowed it down to a movie, food and video games. Itachi said he stole Kisame's new version of Halo."

"Great! I love it when your brother does that, he's so awesome!"

Sasuke snorted, "What time do you want to go to the movie?"

"Well we can leave now, have lunch and then go to the movies. What a great idea, I was dying of boredom here." Naruto laughed, "hey, is Itachi coming?"

"Why, do you want to hook up with him?" Sasuke asked a little too roughly.

Naruto chuckled, since he'd told Sasuke about having had a crush on Itachi, every time the name came up Sasuke would snort and start brooding. The blonde assumed Sasuke was just being protective over his brother...what he didn't even think to guess was that Sasuke was jealous.

"Please, that was so long ago, I have no desire to hook up with your brother. Now, if Sakura and Ino came along...well, maybe Pinky and I could hook up, and you could actually have a date for a change."

"With Ino? Are you out of your mind? That woman is crazy, just thinking about her gives me hives." Sasuke shuddered, "besides, Sakura told me she was going to be very busy today."

Sakura was definently going to be busy, whether it was counting nose hairs or plucking her eyebrows, Sasuke didn't care. This was his opportunity to spend some time alone with Naruto and he wasn't going to let some giggly pink haired girl get in the way! Ever since he'd decided he liked her, all Naruto wanted to do was find ways to be around Sakura...well not today, no way, nothing was going to wreck the perfect weekend he had planned.

He watched as his friend slurped up the rest of the ramen, "Let me grab some money and then we're outta here!"

Sasuke smirked, Jiraiya was out of town, so he and Naruto had the place all to themselves for the whole weekend. He turned around and saw a picture of him, Naruto and Itachi. His older brother had an arm around a blushing Naruto while his other hand was ruffling the hair of a brooding Sasuke. The dark haired boy frowned, he remembered the day that picture was taken, it was the day Naruto told him that he liked men just as much as women...and that he had a huge crush on Itachi. For the briefest moment Sasuke had been elated, hoping that his own feelings might be returned...but then Naruto had mentioned Itachi, and Sasuke had felt his heart shatter. Of course he liked Itachi…**everyone** liked Itachi.

After that he'd been angry with his brother for a few weeks until the older Uchiha told him that if he was feeling that jealous because of Naruto's crush, then it was his own fault. When afterall, had Sasuke ever made a move or let his feelings show even in the slightest? True, he was afraid that Naruto might reject him, and their friendship would be ruined, but after talking to his brother, he'd decided that it was worth the risk. So he'd started small, and just when it seemed like Naruto was responding, that damn redhead had shown up. For Sasuke, Gaara was just as big a threat as Sakura, the way he looked at Naruto, the way he talked to him...and the way Naruto smiled that impossibly wonderful smile that he'd thought was only for him!

"Sasuke? Hey Sasuke, wake up!" Naruto was waving a hand in front of his friend's face. Sasuke blinked a couple of times before realizing that he'd been so distracted that he hadn't noticed Naruto was ready.

"You okay?" Naruto's look of concern melted away any bitterness Sasuke might have still been feeling.

"Yeah, I'm okay, just remembering something Itachi told me."

"Well then," Naruto held out a hand which Sasuke grasped and was pulled to a standing position, "let's go!"

* * *

So, do you like it? Really?? Then, review!!


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **Once again, I don't own Naruto. He belongs to Gaara and Kashimoto.

**Author's Note: **

**1. **This is a Yaoi stori, if you don't like don't flame me and simply don't read it.

**2.**The pairing is Gaara and Naruto, and the story line is ...is in high school, I mean I'm not following the cannon in the ninja world.

**3. **Thanks to all of you that had reviewed my story. I really appreciate it. I also want to thank to my beta **InosBane**

for making of this is story something easy to read. Thanks!!

**4. Read and do not forget to Review!! And enjoy!!**

* * *

The day had started out sunny and warm, but by ten o' clock, clouds started gathering. When Gaara, Shikamaru, and Gaara's sister, Temari had been in the mall about two hours, it started to rain. Temari had joined the boys in their quest to find Gaara a costume, explaining that without a female's input, Gaara could end up looking like one of The Village People. Thus far, the only one who'd even pretended to consider a pair of buttless chaps was Temari, and that was only because of the overly flirtatious salesman.

"Hmmm..." she'd smirked touching her finger to her chin, "I don't know. Let's ask my little brother and his friend." Turning she called brightly, "hey Gaara, Shikamaru, what do you guys think?"

At the mention of the word "brother", the salesman paled and followed Temari's gaze. Shikamaru had to turn away to hide his blush while Gaara, who was slouching in a nearby chair frowned.

"Yeah," she agreed, "that's what I thought too."

"What was I thinking?" The salesman hurried to put the costume back on the rack. "That look is totally wrong for you. Perhaps this one?"

He pulled out an Elizabethan costume, and truth be told, the light blue dress would have looked beautiful on Temari. Shikamaru, whose face had returned to normal, eyed the dress with a great deal of interest. Even Gaara nodded slightly while Temari smiled, pleased with the choice.

"Yes, rather than the dress making you look good," the salesman smiled as his eyes roamed her figure approvingly. "You, with your coloring would make this dress look gorgeous," he ended with an obvious wink.

An uncharacteristically girly giggle issued from Temari, causing Gaara's eyes to widen in horror and Shikamaru to tense up.

"I think it's a bit too froo-froo for her," Shikamaru commented.

The glare that Temari sent his way was so scary that even the salesman took a step back. Gaara sat up straight trying to decide whether or not he should intervene, it wasn't everyday he got to see Shikamaru acting jealous and stupid. He watched as the dark haired boy hesitated, unsure whether or not he should say anything more. Temari waited a few minutes before she turned, and with a large fake smile placed a hand on the salesman's arm and began talking in a flirty voice.

"So," she cooed at the salesman as Shikamaru frowned. "You really think this would look good on me?"

Gaara'd had enough. He stood up and left the awkward trio to look around the shop for something that would suit him. He was a little annoyed that his friend and sister were too busy playing stupid games to help him. How hard could finding a decent costume be? After twenty minutes of walking around he realized just how difficult it was. There were literally hundreds of costumes to look through. He'd sorted through rack after rack of baby costumes, clown costumes, sexy costumes, and some costumes that were just too creepy to give a second thought. He'd paused in his search to admire a black cape when someone bumped into him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't…" Gaara turned and found himself face to face with pink hair and a pair of green eyes. The girl gave him a nervous smile, "oh, hi Gaara."

Gaara looked at her for a moment, he knew he'd seen her face before.

The girl saw the uncertainty in his eyes, "I'm Sakura, from school."

"Oh, that's right. Hi." Gaara replied. An uncomfortable silence followed.

"So," Sakura shifted her feet nervously before asking, "what are you doing here?" Gaara opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted.

"Maybe he's looking for a costume for Naruto-kun's party," Sai offered with his characteristic smile. He held up a cheerleader costume, "you think this would look good on me?"

Gaara looked at the boy in disbelief. Was he seriously considering a girl's cheerleader costume? Sakura sighed, exasperated with Sai's cluelessness. It was apparent to Gaara that he'd done this a few times already.

"Sai, if you want me to have anything to do with you for the rest of the year you need to find something else. Something for a boy," she said. Sai briefly looked disappointed, before nodding and wandering off to find something "for a boy".

When she saw the expression on Gaara's face, Sakura giggled.

"He was…well, he doesn't get out all that much." She shrugged, "there's a lot of things he needs to learn." She smiled fondly, watching as the black head bobbed up and down through the racks. "So, you're looking for something for Naruto's party too?"

Gaara nodded, noticing the mischievious look on the girl's face.

"What's that you've found?"

"Nothing," Gaara answered more aggressively than he'd meant to. He saw the green eyes widen at his tone. "Sorry," he sighed. "Shikamaru was supposed to help me find something, but..." he gestured towards where his friend and sister were standing.

Sakura turned to see what Gaara was pointing at. Shikamaru was with a blond girl she didn't recognize. They appeared to be carrying on a conversation with their shoes. If the identical blushes meant anything, they seemed to be embarassed.

"I didn't know Shikamaru had a girlfriend," Sakura stated frowning a little.

"He doesn't," Gaara snorted. When Sakura looked at him curiously, Gaara explained. "She's my sister and, well…it's a bit complicated."

Sakura regarded the pair once more before turning back to Gaara whose face was an expressionless mask. She smiled a little, understanding why Naruto was always watching the redhead. Gaara really was quite handsome. His face appeared serene while his eyes spoke volumes. At that moment, they were expressing how helpless he felt at not being able to find a costume for Naruto's party. She turned her attention to the cape Gaara was looking at a few minutes before.

"What about this?" She asked fingering the satiny material.

"What about it?" Gaara asked confused.

"Well, it's a costume."

"It's a cape."

"Yeah, but did you see what's under the cape? Look," she said pulling the costume off the rack.

Gaara could see that inside the cape was what looked like a tuxedo and a half face mask. When he read the tag, it said "Deluxe Phantom of the Opera". He remembered how Temari had dragged him and Kankuro to see the play a few years back. Kankuro had fallen asleep, but Gaara had been mesmerized by the music. As he wondered if he'd indeed finally found **his **costume, he missed the amused look that crossed Sakura's face.

"So, what do you think? Maybe you should try it on, the changing rooms are right over there," she pointed to the end of the aisle.

Gaara lifted his eyes and looked at her suspiciously, "why are you helping me?"

Sakura thought over the question for a moment, she saw the distrust in Gaara's eyes, and then shrugged smiling softly.

"You looked really helpless in here. Go on, take it to the changing room and try it on. I'm pretty sure it would look good on you." She handed Gaara the costume, and with one last questioning glance he walked off towards the changing rooms.

"So, why'd you really help him?" Sai's sudden reappearance caused Sakura to jump.

"Because I wanna win the bet," her innocent expression faltered when she grabbed his hand and winked. "Anyway, you've seen the way Naruto looks at him."

Sai thought about what she'd said and nodded.

"True, but Sasuke-kun is not going to be happy. I've noticed the way **he** looks at Naruto-kun. Why don't you help Sasuke instead of Gaara?"

Sakura's mouth dropped open in surprise. It never ceased to amaze her how Sai noticed so much more than he let on.

"Well," she said recovering herself, "I've known Sasuke for years, I even had a crush on him when I was younger. There's no question that he loves Naruto, but it's a selfish love. He's a spoiled brat," Sai noticed how Sakura's expression grew hard as her voice lowered to a hiss. "And I'm sick of watching him take whatever he wants with no regard for anyone else or their feelings." The girl paused, and a slight smile played about her mouth. "But this Gaara, I don't know, even if I don't really know him, I get the feeling that what he feels for Naruto isn't just a selfish crush. He's not trying to win a pissing contest, or stake a claim, he seems genuine."

Sai nodded his head in agreement, he had noticed the same things.

oooooooo

After some awkward conversation about frumpy costumes and pushy salespeople, Shikamaru and Temari started looking for Gaara. They couldn't believe that they'd forgotten all about helping him find a costume, and now he was nowhere to be seen. Turning a corner, Shikamaru noticed Sakura and Sai standing together talking. Immediately his shoulders tensed, if they were here then it probably wasn't a good idea for Gaara to be wandering around alone. There was no telling what might happen if he saw them. He started to go down the next aisle when one of the changing room doors opened and Temari gasped in surprise. For his part, all Shikamaru could do was gape at the person standing in the doorway while Sai and Sakura grinned appreciatively.

There stood Gaara in a red tuxedo shirt, with black pants, vest, and cape. He was holding a white mask in his hand and appeared a little nervous as he shifted from one foot to the other. When he heard his sister's gasp, he raised his pale green eyes hoping her reaction would give him an idea as to whether or not the costume was right for him.

"Gaara," she whispered running over to him and hugging him tightly, "you look incredible!"

Struggling to breathe, Gaara noted the shock on Shikamaru's face as well as the identical grins worn by Sakura and Sai. Maybe this **was **the right costume afterall.

"I'm pretty sure that when Naruto-kun sees you in that costume he'll jump your bones the first chance he gets," Sai smiled proudly before getting smacked in the back of the head by Sakura. Gaara growled in embarrassment as a bright red blush spread across his cheeks.

"Sai, you shouldn't say such things, remember the discussion we had about your foot-in-mouth disease?"

"But, it's obvious that Gaara-kun likes Nar..." Sakura put a hand over Sai's mouth before he could finish.

"Just, shut up," she mumbled. The black haired boy nodded when he saw the maniacal gleam in the girl's eyes.

Gaara blinked several times, and took a deep shuddering breath. He'd always been so good at hiding his feelings, and here was this weird guy saying that it was obvious he liked Naruto! When did he become so transparent?

Seeing his friend's distress, Shikamaru broke the silence. "This really is an awesome costume, much better than the baby clown Temari made you try on earlier. How'd you find it anyway?"

"I helped him," Sakura chimed in.

"Really? Why?"

"Because she saw that he needed help and you were too busy with your girlfriend," said Sai.

"She is not my girlfriend!"

"He is not my boyfriend!

The pair's response was so sudden and so loud that every eye in the store was suddenly upon them. Red faced, Shikamaru suggested that Gaara pay for the costume and they go have lunch. Temari silently nodded. Sai stared at the two in confusion while Sakura bit her lip. Gaara just rolled his eyes and went back into the dressing room to change.

As he was about to leave the store with his costume in a large bag, Gaara paused to say thank you to Sakura.

"No problem," she smiled. "And…well, if you don't mind me saying so, I think Sai is right. Naruto is going to jump you as soon as he sees you in that outfit."

As flustered as her words made him feel, Gaara couldn't help but smile at the thought of having Naruto fall for the outfit, fall for him. Sakura winked and giggled while Sai waved.

"You know baby brother, I haven't seen you smile like that in...oh, forever." Temari commented as the trio made their way to the food court. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Gaara smiled again, "it's just a really nice day, don't you think?"

Shikamaru smirked, "yeah? Tell that to the hurricane outside. Ouch! Troublesome woman, what'd you hit me for?"

The black haired boy rubbed his arm as the blonde girl laughed.

oooooooo

Naruto and Sasuke were sitting at one of the few tables available in the food court, talking about nonsense. It had been a good day so far and Sasuke was loving every minute of it. Currently, Naruto was going on and on about Jiraiya and his new book. How his research was going and about all the women that had probably slapped him in the process.

Sasuke nodded occasionally, even smiling once or twice, but he knew Naruto didn't even notice. Yawning, he stretched out a hand to take one of the blonde's french fries that sat untouched on his plate. His eyes widened in shock when he felt a stinging slap.

"Hey, teme! Those are mine, you have your own food." Naruto's eyes were narrowed as he circled his food protectively with his left arm. Sasuke smirked before once again reaching for a fry and receiving yet another slap.

"Ow, Naruto! I just want one fry. Can't you give me just one?"

Naruto hesitated for a moment before giving in.

The back haired boy smiled, "have you decided what movie we're going to see?"

"I don't know, I can't decide between Resident Evil or Diary of the Dead. You choose."

Sasuke leaned on his chair legs and thought. He liked those kinds of movies, he especially liked seeing those kinds of movies with Naruto. The blonde dobe would jump every now and then, grabbing Sasuke's hand. Who knows, maybe if it was scary enough Naruto would hug him and then…  
Yeah, a scary movie would fit right into what he'd been trying to do all afternoon. Everything was going just as he'd planned. He opened his mouth to speak when he noticed that Naruto was staring at a point just over his shoulder. The blonde smiled that special smile and began waving. Annoyed, Sasuke turned to see what had caught Naruto's attention. Damnit! There was that Gaara with Shikamaru and some blonde girl he'd never seen before.

"What are you doing?" He hissed at Naruto who ignored him and continued to wave.

"Oi! Shikamaru, Gaara, hi!"

Smirking, Shikamaru grabbed the redhead by the arm and steered him over to the table where Naruto sat waving, and the Uchiha slouched, obviously sulking.

"Hi guys, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked grinning.

Sasuke was shooting daggers at Gaara whose own eyes had turned frosty.

"Yeah, what the hell are you doing here?" Sasuke asked.

Temari was taken aback by the rudeness of the question, and opened her mouth to reply when Gaara cut her off.

"We were shopping, Naruto. How about you?" Gaara smiled at the blonde, ignoring the seething Sasuke who had clenched his fists under the table.

"Humph, none of your business. Now why don't you just go."

"Why you little..." Temari started, but this time it was Naruto who replied.

"What is it with you? Instead of acting like a jerk, you should be apologizing," he reminded Sasuke.

"Apologizing? Are you out of your frigging mind? Why in the hell should I apologize?" Sasuke asked incredulously.

"How about because of what you did yesterday." Naruto replied quietly.

Temari took in the red faced Sasuke, then turned her gaze onto Gaara and Shikamaru.

"What happened yesterday," she asked coldly. Shikamaru's attention was suddenly drawn to a menu board.

"It was nothing, a stupid thing, not even worth remembering." Gaara sighed, giving Naruto a small smile. " It was good to see you, goodbye now. "

The threesome turned to leave when Naruto suddenly blurted out, "Would you like to go to the movies?"

Everyone stopped. Sasuke's eyes opened wide in shock, Shikamaru grinned, and Temari regarded her brother's expressionless face.

Gaara turned around and found himself trapped in those blue orbs that were looking at him with a mix of embarrassment and apprehension.

"No, I'm sorry," he shrugged, "but we have to go." Temari opened her mouth but closed it again after receiving Gaara's death glare.

Shikamaru turned holding up a hand, "Can you excuse us for a second?"

He took Gaara by the arm and the two walked until they were out of earshot.

"What the hell?" Gaara jerked his arm out of his friend's grasp. "Didn't you hear me? We have to go."

"Because we have so many other things to do? Come on, he just invited you to the movies."

"Only because he still feels sorry for what happened. This is crazy, I already told him to forget about it. Besides, he's with Uchiha." Gaara's voice had softened to a whisper as he finished his statement.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "look," he said, and there was something unfamiliar in his expression. "I know the situation seems hopeless, but think of it as a chance for both of us to get what we want."

Gaara lifted a non-existent eyebrow, "What are you up to Shikamaru?"

A blush worked it's way across Shikamaru's face as he stared at his shoes.

"Look, I...I haven't exactly asked your sister to the party yet." Brown eyes met green, "I just thought, you know, if we saw a movie...I could do it then, and you could take your chance with Naruto."

"So basically," Gaara sighed. "You're too chicken to look my sister in the eyes when you ask her out, you need a dark, crowded room?"

Shikamaru grimaced, "I prefer to think of it as mysterious and romantic..."

"Either way," the redhead shook his head, "we're doing this for you, not me."

Shikamaru nodded, "you're a good friend Gaara." He smiled before walking back to Naruto's table. "So," he yawned, scratching the back of his head. "What're we seeing?"

"You coming too?" Naruto smiled mischeviously at Temari and nodded towards Shikamaru. "You two on a date?"

"No!" Came the vehement reply from both. Naruto grinned while Gaara and Sasuke were engaged in a silent staring contest. Finally, Sasuke stood up and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Well, then let's get moving, we don't want to miss the movie. Right?"

Naruto stood up enthusiastically and dragged the redhead towards the theater, leaving Sasuke to stare after them.

"Wow, bad luck kid," Temari smirked, as Sasuke let out a whispered curse before following the pair.

While waiting in the lobby for Temari and Naruto to buy snacks, Sasuke took the opportunity to pull Gaara away towards a water fountain. Gaara slapped away Sasuke's hand and glared at him coldly.

"Touch me again and your face will be even worse than it is now," he growled.

"You think I'm scared of your stupid threats?" Uchiha asked, "let me tell you something, you'd better back off. Don't you dare to mess up things with Naruto or...you'll find out what an Uchiha it is really capable of." Sasuke's voice, although low, trembled with fury.

Most people cowered when face to face with and enraged Uchiha. The fact that Gaara was matching his glare, even smirking, brought out a bit of unwanted admiration in Sasuke.

"Feeling threatened Uchiha? Why could that be?" Gaara whispered.

Before Sasuke could say anything else, Naruto and the others appeared. Sasuke shot one last glare at Gaara before following Naruto inside the darkened theater.

"You okay?" Temari asked, sounding more than a little concerned. "That Sasuke guy looks like trouble."

Gaara shrugged but made no reply as he followed the others in. Once inside, he found himself sitting on Naruto's right side. Sasuke was to the blonde's left, and Temari and Shikamaru were sitting next to each other behind the three boys.

Whenever he went to the movies, Naruto would enjoy putting his arms on each side of the armrest. This was normal behavior for him, and Sasuke, having known the boy forever, was prepared for it. He also knew that since he'd become aware of his feelings, he'd started placing a hand over Naruto's. Today would be no exception, especially with that redheaded freak on the other side.

As soon as the movie started, Sasuke put his arm over Naruto's and began tracing small circles on top of his friend's hand. After a few seconds Naruto noticed, he frowned, wondering what his friend was up to. When he turned his head, he saw that Sasuke was paying full attention to the movie and so he assumed that this must be an absent minded thing. Turning to the other side, Naruto regarded Gaara's face. It was so different from Sasuke's. Sasuke always wore a serious expression that many found irresistible, but Gaara seemed to have an expressionless face. It was as if his face didn't know how to show emotion, as if that was a job better suited for his eyes. That's where Gaara's emotions were, hiding in those incredible green eyes. Naruto could see that right at that moment Gaara was feeling about the same as he did in Art or Physics class. He remembered all the times he would look over at Gaara from across the room, and that look of concentration he'd have before a beautiful smile would work it's way across his face. His eyes would gleam, and then roll when Shikamaru leaned over and whispered something. Whether it was happiness or not, Naruto wasn't sure, but it was always there, everytime he looked Gaara's way. Naruto stopped and mentally shook himself. This couldn't be happening, that feeling he got when he was thinking about Gaara just then...no. No, no, no! He couldn't think about that, he liked Sakura, and well…Gaara wasn't Sakura. It wasn't possible, and...

Just then, Gaara turned and their eyes locked for the briefest moment. Green ones with blue, Naruto smiled nervously and without noticing, he lifted his left hand and scratched his head, embarrassed. Then, just as fast, he turned around and tried to concentrate on the movie. "I'm in serious trouble," he thought, completely ignoring the reproachful look coming from Sasuke.

Gaara looked from Naruto, trying to appear interested in the film, to Sasuke who was once again glaring at him. A small smirk appeared on the dark haired boy's face as he touched Naruto's arm. The blonde turned to Sasuke and, with a strange smile on his lips, laid his hand on the armrest. The Uchiha lowered his eyes and placed his own hand under Naruto's intwining their fingers. Naruto, whose attention was now focused on the movie, remained blissfully unaware of the staring contest going on between Sasuke and Gaara. When the redhead saw Sasuke's and Naruto's hands, he couldn't help but feel a familiar pain in his chest. Closing his eyes briefly, he ignored the ache and put his left hand on the now free armrest.

Behind them, Shikamaru and Temari were doing their best to watch the movie, but every few minutes Shikamaru would look Temari's way, just to turn around before she noticed. He missed the fact that she was doing the exact same thing until, while reaching for popcorn they happened to lock eyes.

Smiling nervously, Shikamaru whispered, "you know this costume party next week? It's troublesome, but I promised Gaara I would go with him. It'll probably be really boring, but I was wondering if maybe you might want to come too?"

He tried to act casual by yawning widely. When he closed his eyes he missed Temari's smile.

"But I thought you were going _with _Gaara," she teased.

Shikamaru wasn't sure if she was kidding or not.

"We're just friends, I'm going with him for moral support," he replied slightly panicked. "To be honest, I'd really like to go to this thing with you."

Thankful for the darkness that hid his blush, Shikamaru exhaled a breath he didn't realize he was holding, and waited for Temari to answer. She took her sweet time, and Shikamaru started to wish he hadn't even bothered. Maybe he'd misread her, maybe what he thought was flirting was just her personality. Maybe she already had a boyfriend, maybe she...

"I would love to go to the party," she smiled widely. "Not necessarily with you, but how lame would it look if I showed up as my brother's date?"

With that, the pair returned their attention to the movie, a hint of a smile on each face.

oooooooo

With one final blood curdling scream, the movie ended and the small group joined the mob of other teenagers milling about in the theater's lobby, not quite ready to face the downpour outside. Naruto, Gaara and Sasuke were quiet while Temari and Shikamaru discussed the ending of the movie. As Shikamaru recounted the killer's final scene, Naruto turned to Gaara and shrugged.

"I guess I'll see you Monday," he smiled. Gaara nodded and a dark look crossed Sasuke's face. "I, uh…it was a good movie, huh?" The blonde scratched the back of his head, "listen, I'm sorry about the hand grabbing and the hug…that was a really scary part!"

Gaara saw the look of alarm on Naruto's face.

"Don't worry about it," he soothed. "I didn't have the slightest problem with it," he said with a shy smile. Naruto laugh nervously before Sasuke cut in.

"Naruto," he said quietly, eyes boring a hole in Gaara's chest. "We have to go, my mom's waiting," the dark haired boy pointed out the door at a dark blue sedan.

"Oh...yeah, right," Naruto nodded. "I'm glad you guys came with us to the movies," he took a step towards a wide eyed Gaara who responded by taking a step back. "Yeah, I'll see you Monday Gaara. Bye, Temari-chan, Shikamaru."

Gaara watched as his crush hurried to catch up with the brooding Uchiha. Behind him, Temari and Shikamaru were smirking.

"Awww, that's so cute! My little brother is growing up," Temari teased.

"It fills me with pride to see how far you've come with him Gaara, hand holding already!" Shikamaru nodded.

With a small blush on his cheeks, Gaara turned and eyed his tormentors.

"I take it, by the way you two are standing together, that Shikamaru finally grew the cojones to ask you out, right Temari?" The smiles melted off their faces as Gaara continued, "and judging from your blush, I'd say that you agreed to a date, yes?"

The pair nodded silently. Gaara hoisted the bag containing his costume off of the floor and made his way to the door.

"About damn time," he muttered pushing open the door and feeling the first drops of rain on his face.

* * *

Here it is another chap. Hope you have enjoy it.

Please do not forget to review and tell me what you think of it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **Once again, I don't own Naruto. He belongs to Gaara and Kashimoto.

**Author's Note: **

**1. **This is a Yaoi stori, if you don't like don't flame me and simply don't read it.

**2.**The pairing is Gaara and Naruto, and the story line is ...is in high school, I mean I'm not following the cannon in the ninja world.

**3. **Thanks to all of you that had reviewed my story. I really appreciate it. I also want to thank to my beta **InosBane** for making of this is story something easy to read. Thanks!!

**4. Relax,Read and do not forget to Review!! And enjoy!!**

* * *

It was raining outside. The storm that had begun over the weekend had continued almost non-stop into Monday afternoon. As lightening lit up the sky and the sound of thunder roared overhead, Naruto couln't help but think that the weather was a perfect reflection for his current situation.

On his right, Sakura sat brow furrowed, concentrating hard on the exam paper in front of her. Behind them, Sasuke was trying to conceal his answers from a desperate Kiba, while to the left, Neji and Tenten looked as if they were almost finished. Feeling a bit like Jiraiya at a hot springs, Naruto chanced a look in the far right corner of the room. There was Shikamaru lying on his desk apparently asleep, while Gaara gazed out of the window next to him. A small smile crept across Naruto's face when he remembered the weekend. It really had been quite the coincidence running into Gaara like that, and he enjoyed being able to spend some time with him...even if it meant he had to deal with a brooding Sasuke for the rest of the afternoon.

"Naruto!" Sakura hissed.

The blonde boy returned her frown with a sheepish grin before turning his attention back to his exam. It was hopeless, he hadn't studied and didn't understand anything about trigonometry…he wondered what the teacher would say when he turned in a blank page? Sakura watched as the grin turned into a look of resignation before casting a glance down at her friend's exam paper. She sucked in her breath sharply and somehow managed to refrain from punching him.

"Not again," she sighed.

After making sure the teacher's attention was elsewhere, Sakura passed a very surprised Naruto her exam paper.

"Don't think there won't be some kind of payback," she whispered.

Naruto nodded mutely, and began copying down some of her answers. He didn't want the cheating to be obvious, so he left a few problems blank. Once outside the classroom, Naruto hugged the pink haired girl, completely oblivious to the glare he was receiving from Sasuke. Sakura briefly returned the hug before slapping Naruto in the head.

"You didn't study, did you?" Neji smirked as he came up behind the pair.

Naruto shook his head blushing.

"I kind of didn't have the time."

"Of course you didn't," Sasuke mumbled. "What with you spending all your time with that freak."

Naruto turned to stare curiously at his best friend. Neji rolled his pale eyes when he saw Sasuke in full "Drama Queen Pout". As much as he enjoyed a dumbfounded Naruto, he hated a gloomy Sasuke, and so without further comment continued on to his next class. Sensing that things would end up badly for the two friends, Sakura grabbed Naruto by the arm and dragged him toward the front doors.

"Come on Uzumaki, you still owe me for saving your butt in trig. I'm thinking that you treating me to an ice cream cone should just about cover it."

Naruto glanced at Sasuke one last time before following Sakura out of the school.

Sasuke stood in the middle of the crowded hallway clenching his fists when a voice whispered into his ear, "wow man, you having some seriously bad luck. Not only do you have to compete with Sakura, but now that Gaara too?"

Kiba shook his head, "I wonder if you're ever going to get your chance with Naruto."

Sasuke turned to stare coldly as Ino slapped the boy in the head.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Outside, the bad weather appeared to have finally come to an end and a weak sunlight filtered through the clouds. Sakura and Naruto walked slowly through the large park next to the school. Each was paying special attention to the large ice cream cone they were holding. Naruto peeked over at Sakura with a small smile on his face. This was just like a date and it had been Sakura's idea! Maybe she _**did**_ like Naruto the same way he liked her. But looking at Sakura's green eyes brought a memory of aquamarine ones dancing into his head. Gaara's eyes. Both pair of eyes had their own special gleam, but where Sakura's emotions played out on her face, Gaara's could only be found in those aquamarine eyes. Is this what Uncle meant when he said that the eyes were the window to the soul?.

Sakura was watching the changes in Naruto's face with a degree of amusement. First was the characteristic foxy grin, then with the flick of an eyebrow curiosity took it's place, until the face she'd known for years finally settled into a dreamy sort of frown. She briefly wondered what could possibly be going on before giving in to her own curiosity and asking him the question that had been nagging at her all day.

"So, Naruto," she smiled sweetly. "Care to tell me what's going on between you and Sasuke-kun?"

Naruto shrugged, "Che," he replied sounding annoyed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Sakura watched her friend lick his ice cream for a moment before continuing.

"Come on, the two of you have been acting weird all day," she smiled. "Weirder than usual anyways."

Naruto sighed. He knew she'd persist until he gave her a straight answer.

"I don't really know Sakura-chan," he paused to lick a bit of ice cream that was going to drip. "He's been like that ever since we went to the movies with Gaara and Shikamaru on Saturday."

His answer caught Sakura off guard and she choked.

"Sakura-chan, are you all right?"

"Ye…yeah…thanks, sorry about that." She smiled as Naruto patted her back. "It's just…Gaara? You, Gaara and Sasuke went to the movies last Saturday?"

Naruto nodded.

"Together?" She asked wide eyed.

"Well, yeah," the blonde nodded again. "Gaara was with his sister and Shikamaru, and since Sasuke and I were going to see a movie when we ran into them, well…I kind of invited them along."

Sakura thought over what Naruto had just said. So after she'd helped him find a costume, Gaara had run into Naruto and gone with him to see a movie. It all made sense now! No wonder Sasuke was moodier than usual, the way he was acting towards Naruto, cold but incredibly possessive at the same time...Sakura wondered just how clueless Naruto really was. When she looked at him he smiled and grabbed her hand.

"Come on," he said, excitement in his voice. "I see something cool!"

Sakura let her friend drag her across the damp lawn to an empty playground. He stopped at a swingset and sat down. When he motioned for her to sit on the swing next to his, the pink haired girl giggled but complied. The rusty chains squeaked in protest as they began to swing.

"So, Sasuke has been angry since Saturday?" She prodded.

Naruto frowned, thinking over his answer.

"Well, yeah kind of…I mean not so much angry as annoyed. Even a bit depressed. It's really weird seeing him like that, all forlorn, like he's lost something."

Sakura laughed, there was no use fighting it any longer.

"Oh Naruto, you can really be quite dense sometimes!"

Naruto scrunched up his face in confusion.

"What are you talking about? I'm not dense!"

"Yes," she nodded, taking a deep breath so she could explain, "you are. Remember Hinata, Neji's cousin?"

Naruto snorted and looked down at his feet. It wan't until after she'd left that he found out she'd had a serious crush on him.

"That," he said trying to sound indignant, "was an entirely different situation.".

"No," Sakura replied shaking her head, "it wasn't. I remember how angry it made Sasuke that she seemed to find every opportunity she could to be near you. She knew you even better than he did."

"Yeah," the blonde agreed. "Sasuke can be a real ass to someone when he wants to."

Sakura nodded but didn't say anything more. As long as they'd been friends, Naruto had been spared finding out just how big of an ass Sasuke could be. He never found out how Sasuke had finally cornered Hinata and told her that as cute as her crush was, Naruto wasn't into girls. How the poor girl was left stuttering when Sasuke, with a smirk on his face, told her that he and Naruto were actually dating...sort of. Sakura would never forget how once she'd told Hinata the truth, the girl had shrugged sadly and with a small smile said that Sasuke had played his cards well, and had won. Sakura and Tenten hadn't spoken to the Uchiha for weeks after that. Hinata wasn't a dirty fighter, she was a nice girl, she hadn't deserved Sasuke's cruelty.

"This is nice," Naruto said, pulling Sakura out of her reverie.

When she turned, she saw his large blue eyes focused on her while the ghost of a smile played about his lips.

"Almost like a date."

Sakura saw the small glimmer of hope in Naruto's eyes and sighed. Yes, almost like the date Naruto had asked her for last summer, and every month or so since.

"You really think this is like a date?"

Naruto nodded eagerly, "the romantic kind," he said.

"And who would you like to be with on this date?"

Naruto was about to answer when Sakura held up a hand to stop him.

"I want you to think about your answer first, otherwise I'll have to punch you."

Naruto gulped smiling nervously. Who would he want to be on a date with? Sakura-chan, duh! That was really obvious, he'd liked her since that day at the beach when he'd taught her to swim. They'd spent all day together talking and laughing. He remembered that was one of the only times he hadn't spend his entire summer holiday with Sasuke since the Uchihas were attending a wedding in another village. Without Sasuke there, Naruto had the opportunity to spend more time with his others friends, one of whom was Sakura. He'd immediately liked her personality and her hair, her smile and those eyes….those beautiful green eyes that somehow led him to thoughts of Gaara. Gaara really had some interesting eyes, even more interesting than Neji's. And who can forget that hair? That blood red hair that stood out against his pale skin. The only thing more impressive was the kanji on his forehead, Naruto wondered how he'd done that, it added to the mysterious aura that surrounded him. Then there was that smile. If you looked closely it appeared more like a smirk. Like that moment he looked over at him in class…

"Naruto!"

This time it was Naruto who was called back from dreamland. Blushing slightly, he turned to look at his smirking friend.

"Where'd you go? You spaced out on me for like five minutes!" When Naruto didn't answer right away her smile grew wider. "So, who were you thinking about that's making you blush like that?"

"I…I really don't know Sakura-chan," he sighed.

Sakura smiled sympathetically, "well," she said standing up and holding out her hand. "Whoever it was certainly brought a smile to your face."

Naruto took Sakura's hand but kept his eyes on his feet. He could feel himself blushing again.

"Come on then, walk me home like a gentleman," she teased.

"As you wish Sakura-Hime!" Naruto replied making an elaborate bow.

The two friends laughed as they left the playground. Naruto silently hoping that Sakura was done with her damn questions.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Friday afternoon found Naruto and his classmates running laps around the school's track. Normally it wouldn't be a problem, but the P.E. teacher, Maito Guy had had them running for the past ten minutes. When he finally told them it was time to stop, everyone with the exception of the Energizer Bunny, also known as Rock Lee, fell to the ground moaning. In fact, Shikamaru wondered out loud between gasps for air, if these weren't his last moments on earth. Professor Guy smiled proudly at his best student, Lee, before turning his eyes to his dying class.

"Okay, I'd say that's enough of a warm up…"

"Warm-up?" Gasped Naruto and Kiba in disbelief. "You call that a warm up?"

"Naruto," Sasuke hissed. "Shut your mouth before he makes us do something worse."

Much to everyone's dismay, Maito Guy misinterpreted his students' reaction and smiled at them all with his trademark "nice-guy" pose.

"Naruto-kun," he cried happily, "you're right that wasn't much of a warm up. For that I'm truly sorry. I'll do better next time."

Naruto gulped feeling his classmates glares burning through him.

"Unfortunately," Guy continued not noticing the giant sweat drop on Naruto's forehead. "We have to move on. I have something planned that I'm sure you'll all love!"

"Yosh, tell us Professor what is this fabulous thing you have planned? I for one, will do my best to persevere until I acquire great skill in this task's execution!" Lee replied, while the rest of the class performed a perfectly executed eye roll.

"You would all do well to display such enthusiasm," Guy gushed. "Get ready everyone, we're going to play soccer!"

Five minutes and many discussions about youthfulness later, only twelve students stood up ready to play. Sasuke's eyes had a glimmer of malice in them as he looked over at Gaara who smirked as Lee dragged a protesting Shikamaru to his feet. Kiba, who had followed Sasuke's gaze grinned when the Uchiha met his eyes. Soccer's a rough game, anything can happen. Sometimes people even get hurt.

As the students divided into two teams, Naruto looked over where Sasuke, Kiba, Ino, Sakura and Shino were huddled alongside a black haired boy named Zaku. They appeared to be speaking in low tones and every once in a while one of them would look over at his team. When Sasuke finally met his eyes, the Uchiha smirked. Turning his attention back to his own team, Naruto couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy. Especially when Shikamaru failed to disguise a large yawn.

"Um, you _**are**_ planning to stay awake for the game right, Shikamaru?" Naruto asked innocently.

Gaara snickered at the question while Neji regarded Shikamaru with a frown. For his part, Shikamaru stretched his arms over his head, opened one eye and glared at Naruto.

"I'll stay awake, but I'm not going to run all over the field chasing a stupid ball."

"So you can be the goalie?" Tenten suggested.

Shikamaru mulled the suggestion over a moment before shrugging.

"Yosh this is so exciting!" Lee exclaimed, "now, we need a plan in order to use our youthfulness to defeat the other team."

The only two who didn't sweat drop at that remark were Gaara and Neji who glared.

"Well," Shikamaru said smothering another yawn. "Since you seem to have as much energy as Naruto, the two of you should be in the front along with Gaara. Neji and Tenten, the two of you can play defense behind them." While everyone regarded the otherwise lazy boy in surprise, he merely shrugged. "Let's end this," he said simply.

Sai had never thought of soccer as a particularly violent game, but then he wondered if his misgivings had anything to do with the way Sasuke and Kiba were playing it. The pair seemed to delight in the prospect of shoving Gaara to the ground any chance they got. Sai could see by the expression on the redhead's face that his patience was getting stretched thin. He also noticed the exasperated looks Sakura was shooting the two boys,and the frown on Naruto's face. The fact that Sasuke's team had once again failed to score a goal, thanks to that lazy boy's goalkeeping abilities did nothing but serve to further piss off the Uchiha.

Shikamaru glared at the black-haired boy from the opposite team. There was no question, Sasuke really was an ass. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gaara heading down the field in possession of the ball, Naruto just a bit ahead. Sasuke was closing in on the ball, but it wasn't until after Gaara had passed it to Naruto that the redhead's legs flew out from underneath him. Spitting out bits of mud and grass, he looked up into the Uchiha's smirking face.

"Oops, my bad," they black haired boy grinned before running off after the ball.

Gaara sat back on his heels and closed his eyes, oblivious to the activity around him. He took a deep shuddering breath and reminded himself that he needed to calm down. That even if Sasuke was a complete asshole he was also Naruto's best friend, and therefore couldn't be murdered...even if he deserved it.

"You okay, sandman?"

Gaara opened his eyes and was blindsided by the smiling face of Naruto. He nodded.

"Good," the blonde said offering his hand to help Gaara up. "Then let's kick their asses!"

Ten minutes later the game ended in a draw. As the now exhausted players made their way across the field, Gaara heard someone coming up behind him. He thought nothing of it until a split second later when he was shoved into a mud puddle. His cry of surprise caused most of his classmates to turn around.

"Gee," Kiba snickered nastily to Sasuke as they stood next to the puddle, "I don't think a mud mask is going to do much to fix that hideous thing Gaara calls a face."

"Well," Sasuke grinned, "at least he's where he should be, at my f..."

Sasuke, in his amusement, failed to notice the look in Gaara's eyes and the way he'd balled up his fist. His comment was cut short when that fist made contact with his left cheek. Tired of the continuous harrassment, Gaara had reached his breaking point. He was going to kill that boy, if Naruto hated him forever because of it...well, so be it. The Uchiha was going to die.

"Oops, my bad!" Gaara mocked the black haired boy who was now sprawled on the ground.

Sasuke struggled to his feet, intent on striking back when a strong hand came down on each boy's shoulder. Maito Guy's eyes shone with disappointment.

"That wasn't very nice of you Gaara-kun," Guy said looking seriously at the redhead. Sasuke only had a moment to smirk before Guy's large black eyes were focused intently on him. "And you, Sasuke, that was very bad sportsmanship. The game was over, there was no call for you to shove Gaara like that."

The rest of the class watched silently as Guy stood between the two glaring students. It was no secret that there'd been bad blood between them since Gaara's first day.

"You're all free to go," Guy said addressing the class. "but you two," his fingers dug into Gaara and Sasuke's shoulders, "you two have some more laps to run. Knees high, no walking, and no stopping until I say so."

Naruto stood for a moment watching the two boys begin their laps before he shook his head and walked slowly towards the locker room. Shikamaru, Sakura and Sai followed..

"I don't understand, why does Sasuke hate Gaara so much?" Naruto asked the trio next to him. "I mean he's not a bad person, he's actually really cool, not to mention pretty cute." The blonde didn't realize what he'd said, but Sakura exchanged a look with Sai, while Shikamaru smirked.  
As the boys entered their locker room, Shikamaru scratched the back of his head.

"You know, maybe Sasuke's problem isn't that Gaara's a good or bad person, maybe it's that Gaara's so gosh darn cute."

Naruto was grateful that the shirt he was pulling over his head hid his crimson face.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Once Gaara pulled the shirt down over his head he glared at Shikamaru.

"He did," the dark haired boy crossed his heart. "I swear, he said you were cute!"

Gaara rubbed the towel over his head again before walking to the bathroom to hang it up. When he'd finished his laps he decided that he would just shower at home. He'd had enough of school and just wanted to get the hell away from it. Unfortunately, Temari was home when he got there, and he could tell that she didn't believe his story about being clumsy. Still, Naruto had mentioned that he was cute. That in itself was enough to warm his insides and make him very glad that he hadn't actually gone ahead and killed Uchiha.

"You know," he said walking back into his room, "my sister said that for a lazy ass, yours is pretty cute."

Turnabouts being fair play, it was Gaara's turn to watch as Shikamaru blushed.

"Are you aware that everytime I try to talk seriously with you, you bring up your sister?"

Gaara shrugged crossing his heart, "she really did say that."

"You two really are idiots."

The boys heads whipped around to find Temari standing in the doorway smiling, a mug in each hand.

"I made hot chocolate, thought you guys might like some."

Gaara grinned as he took the cup from his sister. Shikamaru, blushing furiously mumbled "thanks."

Temari's eyes sparkled briefly as she sat down on the bed.

"So, you're ready for the party tomorrow," she asked nodding at the costume in the closet.

Gaara rolled his eyes, he'd been getting this question every day since he bought the costume. Still, he nodded, "I like that boy, he's really …I don't know, enthusiastic? Happy?"

"You don't know the half of it," Shikamaru commented finishing his hot chocolate. "Personally, I'm more interested in what you're going to give him."

"That's right," Temari nodded a dreamy expression on her face. " If you really want to impress him and make him notice you, you'll have to give him something special."

Gaara wanted to stick a finger in his ear and shake it. Once again his sister surprised him by being extra girly. It wasn't that Temari wasn't feminine, this was just way out of character for her.

"I have something, but it's a surprise," Gaara smirked.

Shikamaru's eyebrows raised in surprise, "what is it?"

"Like I said, it's a surprise, though I'll admit, I had a little help."

Gaara's confession caused a look of concern to flutter across Shikamaru and Temari's faces.

"Who?" They asked at once.

Gaara smiled as he shrugged his shoulders. "Tomorrow, I'll tell you both tomorrow."

o-o-o-o-o-o

"Oh, look at this," said an amused Deidara. "Our little Sasuke-chan is old enough to get in fights now."

Sasuke was on the verge of kicking his brother's friend when the elder Uchiha brother walked into the hall. Itachi lifted an eyebrow as he took in the mud and scratches on his brother's knees, but it wasn't until he looked at the large bruise on Sasuke's cheek that he showed the slightest bit of emotion.

"You're right Deidara," Itachi agreed smirking. "Only I wonder why he didn't have the good sense to avoid getting hit in the face like that?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, bristling at his brother's attitude, "shut up!" He shouted at the smirking pair

"Oops," Deidara commented wide-eyed. "I'd say you touched a nerve Itachi-kun." Leaning closer to Sasuke he asked in a stage whisper, "so you lost huh?"

Sasuke growled and turned cotinuing down the hallway when his brother called out to him again.

"You'd do well to get a shower and hide any evidence you were in a fight before mom gets home."

Sasuke turned at the bathroom door and appeared to be waiting for Naruto to accompany him when Itachi laughed out loud.

"Sasuke," he mocked, "here I thought you were so grown up, yet you need Naruto to help you wash yourself?"

Deidara snorted as Itachi continued, "Unless you plan on doing more than just bathing."

When Sasuke looked at his brother's face, he was crimson with embarassment. This only caused Deidara to laugh harder, and even Naruto gave in and started laughing.

The younger Uchina gritted his teeth and muttered, "you'll pay for that," before turning to his friend who was holding his sides, trying not to laugh. "Traitor," he growled slamming the bathroom door.

"Hey! I'm not a traitor, but...the way you blushed was funny. Aww, c'mon Sasuke-chan, do you really need my help in there?"

Kisame,who was inside Itachi's room could be heard laughing alongside Deidara. While things being slammed around and muttering echoed from within the bathroom.

"Man, you know just which buttons to push," Naruto grinned at Itachi. The older Uchiha smiled back and motioned for Naruto to follow him into his room. Inside, the blonde found Kisame playing a game on Itachi's computer while Deidara was sprawled on the floor watching TV.

"So how was school today Naruto?" Itachi asked sitting down on his bed.

Naruto shrugged, "it was good, I guess. I'm just more focused on tomorrow."

"Oh yeah," Deidara looked up, a creepy grin making it's way across his face. "It's your birthday party huh? Just you wait to see what we have for you, you're gonna love it."

"Oh, uh...thanks?" Naruto replied, a hint of nervousness in his voice. He knew from experience that when Deidara had that look on his face it never meant anything good.

"Don't worry kid, we won't let Deidara do anything stupid," Kisame said noticing the look on Naruto's face.

"I don't do stupid things," Deidara grunted. "That's Tobi's job!"

Naruto sat down beside Itachi while Deidara and Kisame quarreled.

"So, who did he piss off to get hit like that?" Itachi asked Naruto.

Naruto's eyes opened wide in surprise.

"How'd you know it wasn't the other way around?"

"Please," Itachi sighed. "I live with him. I know my brother and his temper, he's always pissing off someone."

"Well, he was bothering a friend of mine, a new kid named Gaara. And, well..." Naruto shrugged. "Gaara didn't feel like putting up with Sasuke's crap."

Itachi nodded, "I know the feeling," he muttered quietly. "You staying for dinner? Mom would love another chance to complain about how thin you are, and how irresponsible Jiraiya is for leaving you to fend for yourself. She'll probably make you stay the night."

Naruto smiled, he didn't mind so much when Mrs. Uchiha fussed over him.

"You coming Dobe?" Sasuke's voice drew the blonde's attention. He was leaning on the doorframe, his hair was wet and lay flat on his head. He was wearing a black shirt, sweat pants and a sour expression.

Naruto nodded and followed Sasuke to his room. Once inside, they lay side by side on Sasuke's bed staring up at the ceiling listening to music. From time to time Sasuke would shoot a sideways glance at his best friend, wondering what was going on in that blonde head.

"Why do you hate him so much?"

Well that was unexpected. Sasuke didn't need to ask who Naruto was talking about. He grimaced, Gaara. That redheaded bastard was going to pay for what he'd done to him.

When Naruto turned to look at his best friend, he noticed an odd expression in his eyes. A sadness. Not his usual pouting, there was something more intense.

"Why do you care so much?" Sasuke finally answered. When he looked at Naruto this time, the blonde was flustered.

"Well, uh, I don't know...I guess you were right, Sasuke."

Sasuke's eyebrows shot up, and he tried to school his expression. "What do you mean? Right about what?"

Naruto sighed deeply, as he prepared himself for Sasuke's reaction.

"That maybe I don't like Sakura-chan as much as I thought, and that maybe…"

Before Naruto could finish, the bedroom door flew open and a smiling Mikoto Uchiha entered the room.

"Naruto! Itachi said you were here, good. Then the ramen I have downstairs won't go to waste."

At the mention of ramen, all dark, heavy thoughts were forgotten as Naruto followed Sasuke's mom puppy-like from the room. Sasuke didn't know if he should be happy or not that his mom had interrupted what was a serious conversation, though deep down he knew it was probably for the best. He really didn't want to know what else he'd gotten right.

* * *

So, this is the fifth chapter hope all of you had liked, it is getting really hard to write since summer vacations are over. Anyway, do not forget to review and tell me what you think about it !


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **Once again, I don't own Naruto. He belongs to Gaara and Kishimoto.

**Author's Note: **

**1. **This is a Yaoi story, if you don't like don't flame me and simply don't read it.

**2.**The pairing is Gaara and Naruto, and the story line is ...is in high school, I mean I'm not following the cannon in the ninja world.

**3. **Thanks to all of you that had reviewed my story. I really appreciate it. I also want to thank to my beta **InosBane** for making of this is story something easy to read. Thanks!!

**4. Relax,Read and do not forget to Review!! And enjoy!!**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Despite the early hour, the day was already shaping up to be warm as the last bits of dew shone brightly on the grass and birds sang sweetly hidden in the leaves of the ancient trees. The surrounding area was flat and checkered with gray and white headstones. Two figures stood silently in front of a small stone marker, each holding a single white rose. The taller of the two wiped at his eyes before kneeling down and placing his rose on the stone. As he stood his voice sounded strange amidst the birdsong.

"So I heard through the grapevine that you're having a big party tonight," a small smile on his face. "I believe the term 'epic' was used and as I recall someone mentioned that it that it was going to be a costume party as well."The blonde, who was now kneeling before the headstone snorted as he placed his rose next to his companion's.

"If you were spying on me why don't you just admit it."

"Well, I have to," the dark haired man shrugged. "I couldn't let my little brother get raped, now could I?" The blonde's eyes shot open and he turned to glare at his companion.

"Why the hell would you say something like that? I was with Sasuke. It's not like I was with Hidan or something," a slight shiver passed through the boy at the mention of Hidan.

This time the older man snorted and rolled his eyes, "so, my sources were correct? You're having a party, eh Naruto?"

The boy stood up nodding excitedly, "and it **_will_** be epic, it's going to be huge! I've invited everyone in my year." The blonde paused for a moment, then grinned up at his companion. "Hey Zabuza, why don't you come too?"

"Oh wow, can I? Really? Who wouldn't want to be at a Halloween party full of annoying brats and underage girls," Zabuza replied sarcastically bouncing up and down. "Count me in! I can already imagine Jiraiya's reaction to this…or better yet, Tsunade-sama. What about you?" He asked arching an eyebrow, "can you imagine what would happen if they found out?

Naruto paled as he took in the evil smirk on Zabuza's face.

"C'mon," the blonde laughed weakly, his bright blue eyes pleading. "You wouldn't tell, would you Zabuza? You're supposed to be my brother, the one I can trust not to rat me out."

Zabuza laughed at the panic in Naruto's voice. Clapping the boy's shoulder he smiled wickedly, "If I thought it would do any good I might, but Tsunade-sama would only kill you, and Jiraiya would just throw you another party to celebrate the loss of your cherry."

"Zabuza!" Naruto backed up shrugging off the older man's hand. "What the hell is wrong with you? How could you say such a thing? It's just a party." Zabuza snickered and shook his head.

"The question is: what the hell is wrong with you? C'mon Naruto, when I was your age I'd already done everything you can imagine, and some of it twice."

Naruto swallowed nervously at the mental image that came with the word "everything".

"Do you really think this conversation is appropriate given where we are?" He asked gesturing to the surrounding headstones. "Besides, my love life is none of your business."

"Appropriate? I can't think of a place **_more_** appropriate." Zabuza once again put his hand on Naruto's shoulder and looked deep into his eyes. "Look, I promised Haku I'd watch out for you, and with you all 'Mr. Social Butterfly', I hardly ever get the chance to see you anymore, let alone speak to you for any length of time without your entourage. So if not now, when?"

Naruto broke Zabuza's gaze and took in the large letters etched on the stone in front of them. "HAKU" stood out darkly on the white stone.

"You're right Zabuza," the blonde smiled. "And I want you to know I think you've done a great job."

Naruto's smile became mischievous as the pair began walking away from Haku's grave.

"You know," he said a thoughtful expression on his face, "I'm a bit hungry. How about we stop somewhere and grab something to eat? We can talk some more," he added hopefully.

Zabuza snorted and shook his head. It didn't matter how old he got, Uzumaki Naruto maintained that childlike gift of going from serious to joking in the space of a moment.

"Come on then," the older man sighed. "I could use a cup of tea."

* * *

Twenty minutes later the pair was seated at a downtown café where all the waitresses seemed to know Zabuza by name. The place was small, and it had been around for a long time. Much longer than it's neighbor, Naruto's favorite shopping mall. As he drank his coffee, Naruto wondered if Zabuza would want to take him to the mall and buy him a present. It was his birthday after all, maybe if he played his cards right he could get his "brother" to buy him a few movies or some new music. The two had been chatting about Naruto's party, and the blonde was in the middle of explaining why dressing like the character "Green Arrow" was cool when their overly flirty waitress brought their the girl had gone back behind the counter to giggle with her co-workers, Zabuza leaned closer and asked how things were going at school. Naruto rambled merrily about his classes, a girl named Sakura who was a former crush, and how he and Sasuke had gone to the movies with some other kids. He frowned as he recited the events that had taken place since then, especially the ones involving Sasuke and the new boy, Gaara. When Zabuza began laughing Naruto's frown deepened.

"I don't think you get it," he said. "Sasuke's been really out of control."

Shaking his head, Zabuza sighed. "I thought the Uchiha would be a little more determined like his brother, but it seems he's more of the cowardly type. What's he thinking playing the part of jealous boyfriend instead of actually claiming you?"

The coffee in Naruto's mouth sprayed all over the window as he took in what Zabuza said. As the same waitress came running with napkins Zabuza leaned back in his chair and laughed some more.

"Thanks sweetheart," he said smiling at the waitress. "We can manage from here." Turning to Naruto he said quietly, "close your mouth and wipe up the mess, you're embarrassing me."

But Naruto didn't move, he didn't blink, and he certainly didn't close his mouth. His brain was frantically trying to analyze what Zabuza had just said, the implications of what he was suggesting. When it finally occurred to him that he should react in some way, the first thing that flew out of his mouth was a very loud "WHAT?"

Eyes wide he took in the stares of the people around them before whispering frantically, "what the hell are you talking about?" Then nervously, "which Uchiha?"

Now Zabuza had never thought of Naruto as stupid, certainly the blonde was a little…special, but he wasn't stupid. In fact, when he wanted to be, Naruto was actually rather smart. That's why he couldn't believe that his surrogate brother didn't know about Uchiha Sasuke's feelings. For God's sake, even the ten year old Haku had noticed that the black haired boy viewed him as competition rather than as a friend.

"What do you mean 'which Uchiha'?" Zabuza asked incredulously. "I'm talking about the one that's glued to you. The one that glares at any human being that comes within an inch of you."

Disbelieving what he was hearing, Naruto shook his head and laughed out loud.

"That was a good one Zabuza…really, you almost got me there," he chuckled finally wiping the liquid off the window. When he turned back around it was to see Zabuza staring at him, arms folded across his chest, and a mirrored look of disbelief across his features. The smiled faded from Naruto's face as he paled. This wasn't a joke.

The blonde swallowed the lump in his throat as the name "Sasuke" fell from his lips.

Zabuza nodded, and Naruto fell back into his booth."Fuck,"

"Are you really that dense?"

"Hey," Naruto scrambled to sit up. "he's my best friend. How was I supposed to know that my best friend, someone I think of as a **BROTHER** would have those kinds of feelings for me?" The blonde sighed as he rested his chin in his hands, frowning.

"Come on Naruto," Zabuza grinned. "Think about it. The way he looks at you, the over protectiveness, the smiles…please! That boy has it bad for you."

"But…but I don't…I mean, sure Sasuke's hot and all, but Zabuza, I've known him my whole life. He's my best friend," Naruto's tone was almost pleading. Sasuke was supposed to be his family, not his lover, and it was more than a little confusing to have that suddenly change. When did this happen? How was it he'd never noticed?

"I understand your dilemma, but the thing is, any idiot can tell he really likes you. I thought you of all people would have noticed," Zabuza smirked as he finished his tea.

Naruto gulped nervously. Zabuza had already dropped one bomb from which he wasn't sure when he'd recover, if there was more…

"Enough about your wanna-be-boyfriend," the older man sighed with a wave of his hand. "Tell me about this mysterious new guy with the shining green eyes and the wicked tattoo on his forehead."

Naruto blushed, but visibly relaxed. Had he really described Gaara that way?

"Well," he shrugged. "he's just the new guy at school. His name's Gaara and well…that's it, I guess. I already told you what's been going on, Sasuke and I met him at the mall, and we saw a movie together." Remembering the mall, a mischievous smile appeared on Naruto's face. This time it was Zabuza's turn to act nervous. "So, uh Zabuza," the blonde continued. "Since we're here and it **IS** my birthday…well, don't you think that a good big brother, which you are by the way, would want to buy his little brother a present?"

"Don't push it brat," the dark-haired man growled pulling out his wallet to pay the food bill.

"Oh, come on," Naruto pouted. "We're already here, come on, don't be mean."

When Zabuza rolled his eyes in response Naruto continued.

"Come one, I need something to help me deal with the destruction they've done to the house."

Zabuza's curiosity piqued, he looked from the smiling waitress to the pleading blonde.

"What do you mean? What destruction?"

"Itachi and some of his friends are getting the house ready for tonight, only I'm a little nervous about what they've done to it."

Sighing, Zabuza waved to the waitress mouthing the words "see you later", as he allowed the boy to drag him towards the music store.

As they headed towards the mall, Naruto's thoughts shifted from what type of present he wanted to a good-looking redhead he'd run into at this very mall eight days prior. He wondered how it had gone so quickly from barely knowing the boy's name to the redhead's constant intrusion into his thoughts. Naruto would never admit that he'd been watching Gaara since the first day he'd arrived, even going so far as to play a trick on him that he'd once played on Haku when they were four years old-running into him and causing him to drop all of his books.

Naruto's snicker caused Zabuza to eye his surrogate brother curiously for a moment before speaking. It was time to take the promise he'd made to Haku and Tsunade-sama about looking after Naruto seriously. The older man smiled at the blonde's happy expression. Truth be told, he really cared about the kid and wanted him to always smile like that.

" So Naruto," he said drawing the blonde's attention away from a window display. "It seems to me that you really like this Gaara kid," the blonde's deep crimson blush confirmed what he already knew to be true. "Well, then as your big brother, there's something I want to tell you…"

o-o-o-o-o

"Deidara, you know we were told not to destroy the place!" hissed Uchiha Sasuke. He'd just caught the blonde man setting up some fireworks around the backyard.

Deidara turned around and gave a half smile, "aw, Sasuke-chan. You're so cute when you worry. Trust me, I'm not going to destroy the place. This is art, and as such it's not destructive. It's just a moment in…."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, I don't really care." Replied the younger Uchiha whose eye had begun twitching after the _chan_ reference. "I just want everything to be perfect, and that includes you **NOT** setting the place on fire."

Turning to go into the kitchen, Sasuke glared at Deidara "don't _ever_ call me Sasuke-_chan_ again!"

Deidara's laughter followed the black-haired boy into the house. Leaning against a wall, Sasuke put his hand on the bridge of his nose and sighed. He would never understand how his brother, smart, handsome, and (when he wants to be) fun Itachi, could stand to hang out with crazy people like Deidara. Frankly, Deidara wasn't even the worst of the bunch. There was Kisame, who rivaled Deidara for the title "King of Crazy", then there were the fanatics, Hidan and Yahiko, not to mention the utterly stupid Tobi who liked to talk about himself in the third person. What Itachi saw in those guys Sasuke would never know.

Entering the living room, Sasuke wondered when he'd finally stop being amazed at it's incredible size. He understood why Naruto often said he'd rather live in an apartment or condo. A family of at least seven or eight could live here quite comfortably, for it's current two occupants it's size must sometimes seem a bit extreme. The living room alone was the size of four classrooms, then there was an equally huge dining room, a studio, and a professional kitchen with all the most modern appliances. Upstairs there were seven large rooms and an attic that could be accessed by a small door on the roof just outside of Naruto's bedroom. Sasuke found his brother putting the finishing touches on the lights with another of his weird friends, a guy named Kakuzu. The atmosphere was just about set, and he was only slightly resentful at being left behind to manage the decorations when Zabuza came to pick up Naruto earlier that morning. Granted, they were only going for their monthly visit to the cemetery.

"But Sasuke, it's Haku. You knew him, you know how special he was. C'mon, don't be mad."

"I still don't bloody get it. Why do I have to stay behind this stupid thing? When do I get a chance to dance with Naruto?"

Brought rudely from his thoughts, Sasuke clenched his fists and sent a murderous glare at the speaker, the fanatic Hidan. The platinum blonde was wearing his usual attire, black pants and white shirt open to the waist. Had he never heard of buttons? Naruto would _never _dance with a fucking moron like that. He wasn't the only one pissed off by Hidan's comments if the look on Kisame's face meant anything. Luckily, Sasori got between the two and attempted to defuse the situation.

"Hidan," the redhead stated calmly, "you are the DJ, and the DJ is in charge of playing the music, not dancing to it."

"Well why can't you do it?" The blonde whined.

"Because I don't know how to manipulate that!"

"Tobi can…" The masked weirdo piped up.

"Don't even finish that sentence dumb ass," Kisame snarled. "Remember the last time we let you try? You caused a short-circuit. Hey, you still owe me money for that!"

"Can't leave these boys alone for five minutes can we?" A feminine voice spoke causing Sasuke to jump slightly. Turning, he came face to face with the lone female in Itachi's group of friends, Konan. Smiling apologetically, she asked, "so how long have they been at it?"

"I think they just started," Sasuke replied as Konan sighed and approached the quarreling young men.

"You know, it wouldn't be the first time they destroyed a place," Itachi grinned as he walked over to stand next to his brother. "I remember this party we had at Sakon and Ukon's house…" Seeing the look on his younger brother's face Itachi coughed.

"Maybe that's a story for another time."

By the time Zabuza returned with Naruto at five o' clock, everything was set and ready to go. Naruto stood in the center of the room grinning over all the hard work his friends had put into his party.

"Wow guys, this is incredible, really, it's just…wow. Thanks!"

Sasuke smiled and walked towards Naruto who not so subtly moved towards the stairs.

"I've uh, gotta go get ready now," he stammered before taking the steps two at a time. Sasuke stared after him, a look of hurt on his face.

Zabuza, who'd watched the entire exchange with interest shook his head before following the blonde up the stairs. After a moment's hesitation, Sasuke followed. When Sasuke arrived on the second floor, he found Zabuza and Naruto involved in a heated discussion. Though on a second glance, Sasuke could see that Naruto was the only one heated. Zabuza appeared to be laughing in amusement at whatever had made the blonde so upset. When the pair finally noticed Sasuke standing at the top of the stairs, Naruto shot an angry glare at Zabuza before continuing on to his room and slamming the door.

Once in his room, Naruto leaned against the door and closed his eyes. He'd completely forgotten about Sasuke until he saw him downstairs, and now that he _had_ seen him…well he couldn't help but feel weird around him. Naruto locked the door and headed for his bathroom to take a shower. Maybe the water would help him clear his head and figure out a way to talk to Sasuke, because he _really_ needed to talk to Sasuke.

o-o-o-o-o

"Naruto's going to take a bath now," the older man smiled at Sasuke's frown. "I only say this because I know you're looking for an excuse to see my little brother naked again."

Sasuke turned his head and tried to school his features, but there was no hiding the slight blush that appeared on his cheeks. Zabuza put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder and continued to smile.

"Come on," the dark-haired man said. "We haven't talked in ages, whatever happened to the little brat that used to follow me around calling 'Zabuza-niichan'?"

Sasuke snorted, but still smiled.

"If I remember correctly," he replied, "that was Naruto."

Zabuza chuckled at the young man's cheek.

"Yeah well, if I remember correctly it was you _and_ Naruto. Wherever Naruto was, you and Haku weren't too far behind, and the three of you were always willing to call me brother if you felt it would allow you to get away with the candy you guys stole."

Sasuke laughed out loud, and Zabuza was glad to see that the old Sasuke hadn't been completely replaced by the brooding young man he'd come to know.

"I can believe you remember that."

"I'm not that old yet, brat." Zabuza chuckled smacking the boy in the back of the head. "Come on, you can show me where your mother's been hiding. It's been a long time since I've had the pleasure of her conversation. Besides, don't you need to get ready for the party too?"

Sasuke shot a last glance at Naruto's room before following the older man down the stairs. As they headed towards the front door, a familiar voice called to them. They turned around to find Itachi smiling in a way that made them both a bit uneasy.

"Zabuza-san, surely you're not leaving already?" The older Uchiha brother drawled.

"No, I'm taking him home to see mom, he wanted to say hi," Sasuke answered.

The smile disappeared from Itachi's face, instantly replaced by a fierce glare. If Zabuza had been any other man, that glare would have caused shivers to run down his spine. As it was, he wasn't any other man, so Zabuza crossed his arms across his chest and leaned against the wall looking bored.

"I sincerely hope that you're not planning on flirting with my mother Zabuza-san. I've heard around town what your version of saying 'hi' is, and I can only hope for Naruto's sake that what I've heard isn't true. I know how much he loves and admires you. It would be a real shame if you had some sort of tragic accident that would cause him to miss you."

Zabuza smothered a yawn before replying "yeah, sure brat, see you later."

"You know, your brother is really too weird for his own good," Zabuza said to Sasuke when the door had closed behind them.

"You'd be surprised how many people have said the exact same thing to me," came Sasuke's reply.

o-o-o-o-o

Gaara stood staring in the mirror, not quite believing what he was seeing. He was dressed in his Phantom costume, the only thing he had left to put on was the cloak. Looking into the eyes of his reflection through the mask caused him to grin. He really did look great. Reaching for the cloak that lay on his bed he glanced at the oil painting he'd done as a gift for Naruto. He silently thanked the pink-haired Sakura for lending him a small photograph to work from. Sakura had been the one to help him find a costume _and_ decide what to give Naruto. He knew he owed her, even though she said it had been her pleasure to help. He'd wanted to give the blonde a gift that every time he looked at it he would think of Gaara, preferably in a...dare he go there? _Romantic_ way.

"Can't get much more personal than a painting," Gaara smiled, remembering that Sakura had told him that Naruto was a sucker for art, especially paintings. Not for the first time he was grateful for the relative anonymity of the mask. It allowed him to hide at least part of his face.

"Damn, you really look good!" Exclaimed a voice behind him.

Gaara turned to see his brother also wearing a costume. Some sort of cat, with a painted face.

"You know, you're really going to … what?" Kankuro asked looking perplexed. "What are you looking at?"

"You," Gaara replied evenly. "What are you? Some sort of cat with purple make up?"

Kankuro's eyebrow twitched causing Gaara to snort.

"It's **not** make up, it's paint, and I'll have you know that this is a a puppeteer costume."

Gaara's smirk grew until Kankuro could see that his brother was struggling not to laugh at him.

"Tell me Kankuro," the redhead finally managed, "has Temari seen you in that, um…did you call it a puppeteer costume?¨

Kankuro paled under the paint, "aw c'mon, I gave you a compliment! Really," the older boy nodded for emphasis. " Whoever you're after is surely going to fall for you in that."

Gaara pulled the cloak over his shoulders, checked his appearance one last time, then grabbed the gift and the picture, nodding for Kankuro to follow him. As the pair walked along, Kankuro smirked to himself. Once they were at the party he and that blonde guy Deidara would get Gaara back for laughing at his **puppeteer** costume. A cat? I mean really…

Shikamaru yawned in greeting as Gaara and Kankuro entered the room. Taking in his friend's costume the dark haired boy smirked. Gaara rolled his eyes in answer before studying Shikamaru's own costume for a moment.

It appeared that the Nara had tried to match his costume to Temari's, choosing something from the same time period. The black frock coat, cravat, vest and trousers made the crisp white shirt he had on practically shine. His hair was pulled back into a stylish ponytail. Gaara was impressed with the effort his normally lazy friend had gone to in order to impress his sister.

"Well, my good sir," he said with a little bow. "Of course I give you my blessing in your quest to court my sister."

"Tsk, troublesome," Shikamaru replied blushing. "My mother wanted me to look like a real gentleman for once."

"Well, you can tell her for me that she succeeded. For once you really look like one," a female's voice said behind Gaara.

Both boys turned to see Temari standing in the hall. She looked lovely, and her skin was positively glowing. Whether that was from excitement, or from the fact that Shikamaru was staring at her open-mouthed was anyone's guess. The couple stood quietly admiring each other until Kankuro spoke up.

"Hey," he called grumpily, "can we get going? We're wasting valuable partying time just standing here."

Gaara rolled his eyes and followed his brother out of the door. Shikamaru and Temari stood awkwardly for a moment, before he offered his arm to her, and she took it smirking.

"Wow, you can even behave like a gentleman…if this keeps up you might get a present of your own by the end of the night." Temari winked while her date was grateful for the cover of darkness to hide his crimson face.

o-o-o-o-o

Naruto was cornered and he knew it; he was trying to look anywhere but into the eyes of the platinum haired man that was leaning dangerously close, both arms preventing him from ducking away.

"So," the husky voice of Hidan whispered in his ear, "how old are you again? Seventeen? Eighteen?"

Naruto gulped trying not to sound panicked, "seventeen," he replied.

The older man smirked, but before he had the opportunity to say anything else, Konan stepped in.

"Hidan," she hissed. "What the hell are you doing? Leave that underage boy alone and go put on some music." When it looked as if Hidan was going to say something else to Naruto she added, "now!"

Begrudgingly, the blonde let the younger man go. He climbed up behind his DJ stand and put on some music. Konan and Naruto smiled at eachother.

"Thank you so much, you don't know how scared I was just then!" He said hugging the blue haired woman, who in all honesty couldn't blame him for feeling that way.

"Don't worry," she smiled. "Now don't you think you'd better go over and answer the front door? It looks like some of your friends are here."

On his way to the door, Naruto greeted several well-wishers. Friends from school, neighbors, and a few people he didn't recognize but figured were friends of Itachi and his gang. Looking through the glass front door, he saw someone waving at him. Once he opened it, he realized that it was Kiba dressed as a pirate, complete with black eye patch and red bandana. Standing next to him was Akamaru?

"Um, Kiba, why did you bring Akamaru?" He asked gesturing to the large white dog.

Kiba shrugged, "couldn't find a parrot," he said matter-of-factly continuing into the house as Naruto sweat dropped.

Next in line was Shino dressed in a tuxedo and his ever present sunglasses. The boy nodded to his host and walked in. Naruto was about to close the door when two more guests showed up and the blonde's mouth fell open. Sakura had arrived dressed as Red Riding Hood, but not like any Red Riding Hood Naruto had ever seen before. For lack of a better word, her costume was _hot_. Grinning next to her was Sai looking every inch the Wolf.

"Hello Naruto-kun!" Sai greeted the birthday boy. "That's a great costume."

"Thanks, I uh…wow Sakura…Red Riding Hood and the Wolf huh?" Naruto grinned.

Sakura nodded, but Sai spoke up. "Yes, I thought it was only right that if she was Red Riding Hood that I should be the Wolf who eats her up!"

Sakura hung her face in her hands while Naruto blushed. Sai had meant his comment innocently, but Kiba who was standing near suffered a sudden nosebleed.

"Sai, what have we talked about?" The pink haired girl groaned while Naruto began laughing.

"There you are, I've been looking for you since I got back."

Naruto turned around to find himself face to face with Sasuke dressed as the Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantes. Naruto's approving smile gave the black haired boy reason to feel confident about what he wanted to ask.

"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that, it's just…you know."

It was then that Sasuke realized how down Naruto must've felt after visiting Haku's grave. He chided himself because instead of trying to cheer him up he'd been brooding.

"Don't worry," Sasuke smiled putting his hand on the blonde's shoulder. "I'll forgive you if you dance with me."

The blonde smiled back at his friend, "Sure, but it'll have to wait until later, I promised Sakura-chan the first dance."

Luckily, Sakura was quick witted. Just as Sasuke glanced at her she was able to smile with the same smirk he'd worn only moments ago.

Taking Naruto's hand she said merrily, "don't worry Sasuke-kun, I'll bring him back to you in one piece."

Watching the pair walk towards the dance floor, Sasuke became aware of some poorly disguised laughter behind him.

"Oh man, that was brutal." Kiba snickered to Sai and Shino. Seeing the look on Sasuke's face, Kiba calmed down a little. "Come on Sasuke, cheer up. He _did _say he'd dance with you later."

Sasuke snorted, but agreed. Naruto _did_ say _later_. He'd just have to be patient a little while longer.

Naruto and Sakura found a spot in the middle of the dance floor where they'd be able to dance as well as watch their friends on the other side. Moving to the music, Sakura wondered what was up with her friend when she noticed Naruto's gaze lock with Sasuke's for a moment. When the blonde quickly changed position, Sakura opened her mouth to ask him what was wrong, but he beat her to it.

"So," the blonde began nonchalantly, "You and Sai eh?" Sakura narrowed her eyes at the question but answered it nonetheless.

"Yes," she smiled slightly glancing over at the Wolf. "We've been going out for a while but we wanted to wait a bit before we made it public."

Naruto grinned, "so that's why you never want to go out with me." When Sakura started to reply, Naruto stopped her. "It's okay, I mean Sai's a little weird, and he does stick his foot in it a lot, but he's a pretty nice guy. You have my approval."

Sakura rolled her eyes and playfully punched the blonde's shoulder.

"Thanks, even though I don't need your approval, I appreciate it." The pair fell silent for a few minutes watching the other couples dancing around them when Naruto finally spoke again.

"So Sakura, how long have you known that Sasuke has a thing for me?"

The pink haired Red Riding Hood stopped dead in her tracks and looked wide-eyed at Naruto. His smile was genuine, but his eyes weren't as bright and open as usual. As a matter of fact, Sakura wasn't sure how to read him. She decided to come clean and see where that left things.

"So, you finally noticed, huh? What happened? Did Sasuke try something or did you figure it out on your own?"

Naruto smiled, glad she was being honest with him.

"Actually," he said, "Zabuza told me this morning…he made a comment when I was talking about Gaara."

"So that's why you're avoiding Sasuke?"

"Well, it's not what I'm trying to do, at least not on purpose. I know I'm gonna have to talk to him at some point, I just don't know what to say. And anyways..." Naruto trailed off blushing slightly.

"And anyways…" Sakura encouraged.

"Well, I can't figure out what to say that would keep Sasuke my friend after I make it clear to him that I'm not interested…because I'm interested in Gaara."

Sakura beamed, she was so proud of Naruto. He had finally figured out what he wanted, now it was just the getting it. She was about to tell him as much when a flurry of movement to the left caught her eye.

"Speak of the devil," she whispered. "Look over there."

Naruto turned around and stared open mouthed at the redhead in the half mask and tuxedo. Sakura giggled at the look on her friend's face.

"What are you doing just standing here?" She hissed, "get over there and greet your guest!" She laughed as she pushed him gently in the direction of Gaara and his group.

o-o-o-o-o

Kankuro surveyed the room, a look of annoyance on his face. So Deidara was friends with that little blonde brat who had insulted his puppets? How was that possible? He grinned as his friend came forward and the two took off into the backyard. For his part, Gaara felt uncomfortable. He'd never been a part of the "in group", let alone invited to their parties. Now here he was standing dumbly in the entrance of the home of his crush. It suddenly became painfully obvious that Naruto was out of his league, the boy was rich beyond anything he'd ever imagined. He fidgeted and looked at the floor, maybe this was a bad idea, maybe he should just go home.

"What the hell are you doing?" The sound of Shikamaru's voice brought Gaara back to reality, he looked over his friend and his sister, they were looking at him with worried expressions on their faces.

"Come on," Temari smiled pulling lightly on his arm. "I bet he's in there waiting for you."

"More like he's somewhere in a dark corner with the Uchiha," Gaara grumbled. Shikamaru and Temari glanced at each other before turning to the redhead.

"Okay," Shikamaru sighed annoyed. "That's the single most stupid thing I have ever heard you say since I've known you. Now stop being a drag and let's party!"

The dark haired boy grabbed Temari's hand and stomped into the party. Gaara blinked, not quite believing that Shikamaru was capable of expressing such emotion in such a sleepy voice. Smiling slightly, he followed his friend and his dumbfounded sister into the living room. The place was crowded and they didn't know what to do at first until they were greeted by a blue haired woman who pointed out where they could put their coats and where the refreshment table was located. Gaara looked around and found some familiar faces from school, and others that he'd never seen before. Peering into one of the dark corners, he saw the Uchiha with his little gang, but Naruto wasn't among them. He was just beginning to wonder if he'd see the blonde at all when his thoughts were interrupted by a loud booming voice.

"Yo, Gaara!"

The redhead turned and clamped his jaw shut so that it wouldn't drop to the floor, though he couldn't stop the slight blush from coloring his cheeks. There was Naruto, grinning and waving at him. The blonde was dressed up like the Green Arrow in a snug fitting archer costume that left little to the imagination. Gaara tried to focus on the fact that that was a real bow and those were real arrows in the quiver to keep his knees from quivering.

"GAARA? Hey, it's you isn't it? Gaara? Are you okay?"

Gaara blinked a few times before looking directly in Naruto's blue eyes. For a moment, they just stood there looking at each other, matching blushes on both faces.

"So is it you or not?" Naruto asked again. "I hope you're Gaara, so that when I say you look hot I'll know the person I'm talking to. I'd hate to embarrass myself," the blonde grinned sheepishly.

"You…you think I look hot?" Gaara asked disbelieving.

"Well, if you're Gaara, then yes."

"Of course he's Gaara, don't tell me you didn't notice the red hair?"

Naruto followed the voice and rested his eyes upon Shikamaru and his beautiful companion.

"Wow Shikamaru, is that really you?" The lazy boy rolled his eyes and nodded. Naruto grinned and turned his attention to Temari.

"Temari-chan? I remember you from the movies. It's nice to see you again, and I must say, you look beautiful!"

"Thank you Naruto," Temari smiled. Gaara watched the exchange of pleasantries, still trying to digest the fact that Naruto said he looked hot.

"I'm so happy you guys came, please come in and enjoy yourselves." Naruto said enthusiastically. "I know Konan gave you the basics, but the bathroom is over there near the stairs, and the dance floor's in the next room."

"Thank you Naruto," Temari smiled widely. "Now, I wonder, can I entrust my baby brother to your care while I drag my date here off to the dance floor?"

Gaara stared wide eyed at his sister, he couldn't believe she'd made such a brazen request. But she just batted her eyelashes at him and continued to smile. He looked at Shikamaru, eyes pleading for him to intervene, but the Nara just grinned. So much for being emotionless, his momentary panic was replaced by a shiver of pleasure as Naruto threw an arm around his shoulders. As the blonde pulled him close, Gaara could feel the warm strength encased in the green material.

"Don't worry Temari-chan, he's in good hands now!" Naruto said happily, "right Gaara-kun?"

"Good to know, see you later Gaara, have fun!" His sister and best friend called as they took off into the crowd.

Strangely, Gaara didn't feel abandoned with the blonde still holding him by the shoulders, he felt amazing calm and happy. Even when they were interrupted by an angry voice.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything important Naruto."

Turning, they found the Uchiha whose face went from glaring daggers at Gaara to pleading with Naruto.

The dark haired boy held out his hand to the blonde, as he practically whispered, "didn't you promise me a dance?"

* * *

Author's Note:

mmmm... well, I have a new story, this one is a Naruto/Bleach crossover, so if you don't mind cheking it out and telling me what do you think about it....

I hope you like this chapter, do not forget to review!!!


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